Friday, August 14, 2015

22-YEAR OLD FEMALE EMT DIES IN THE LINE OF DUTY FOLLOWING LIFE SAVING ATTEMPT IN PENNSYLVANIA



Friday, August 14, 2015  

Samantha Agins’ legacy was "If you can help someone, you have to try," according to her mother, Paula Agins.

Agins, 22, of Tobyhanna, died Tuesday after suffering a series of strokes after trying to save another woman’s life while working as an EMT at the New Jersey Jaycee Camp, the Pocono Record reports.

Samantha had aspirations of becoming a physician’s assistant, was a senior at East Stroudsburg University with a 4.0 GPA and on her way to achieving her dreams of helping others, her mother said Thursday.

When a woman at the camp suffered a cardiac arrest, she jumped into action.

“Sam started giving her CPR,” Paula Agins said. “She hooked up the (automated external defibrillator), and it kept telling her to push harder. She never wanted to quit.”

Samantha Agins kept trying to save the woman’s life until the ambulance showed up.

It was after the chaotic scene that Paula Agins learned Samantha had the first of four strokes that evening. But because it was Samantha’s first attempt to save someone, everyone thought she was in shock, her mother said.

When she lay down and vomited, but was still alert, Paula Agins asked the camp if she could take Samantha home, but was told no in case the coroner wanted to speak with her.

“That’s when she had another mini stroke,” Paula Agins said. “She wasn’t as responsive as the first time, but I could take her home.”

On the ride home, Paula Agins said she was kidding around and trying to get Samantha relaxed, but by the time they got home, Samantha was grunting and pointing, but still responsive. Around 3:30 a.m. Saturday, Samantha had a major stroke and was taken to Pocono Medical Center.

It was there that the doctor told her that an artery was dissected during the CPR and caused Samantha to suffer a stroke in her brain stem, which killed all the nerves to that part of her brain, her mother said.

She was transported to Thomas Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia, and spent a few days on life support there, before she died Tuesday evening, her mother said.