George Farris Jr. sits on the bumper of Engine #2 Wednesday morning on the Greene Hearth Station. Russ Dillingham/Solar Journal
GREENE — George Farris Jr. has a popularity for disappearing on the scene of an accident.
One minute he’s standing close by. The subsequent, he’s worming his means into the deformed automobile.
It’s a harmful job. Farris can by no means be fairly certain what he’s moving into.
However with half a century of emergency response expertise, there’s little or no he hasn’t seen.
Final week, Maine EMS introduced that Farris shall be one among 5 folks to obtain the Lifetime Achievement Award this yr. As a volunteer for the Greene Hearth Division since 1973 and a 41-year veteran paramedic for United Ambulance, there are few people within the state with a extra spectacular legacy of service.
Fellow volunteers say Farris, the assistant rescue chief, is probably the most energetic and dependable EMT with the division. Because the proprietor of a neighborhood development firm, he’s ready to answer calls at practically any time of the day, and he usually does, dropping every thing at a second’s discover.
Farris has prioritized the wants of the neighborhood above himself and his enterprise for many years, a lot in order that locals search for him at any time when tragedy strikes. It’s a alternative that, at occasions, comes with prices to his enterprise and private life.
“I don’t assume folks perceive that,” Ben Westman, a volunteer with Farris, stated. “They only anticipate him to indicate up.”
And when he does step on scene, their nervousness noticeably diminishes.
“You’ll be able to really see the reduction,” stated Eric Farrenkopf, a fellow volunteer in Greene. “All people is aware of George.”
Farrenkopf and Westman quietly labored with Farris’ spouse, Gayle, to appoint him for the award. Their granddaughter interviewed Farris beneath the guise of writing a faculty paper with a view to accumulate needed particulars for the appliance.
With a cool collected demeanor within the face of crises, Farris likes to inform others he doesn’t have a coronary heart.
“That’s what he says, on a regular basis,” stated Westman. “That’s his line. I stated, ‘That’s the largest farce I’ve ever heard of … you will have the largest coronary heart, you simply attempt to disguise it.’”
As soon as inside wrecked autos, Farris assists responders with extracting occupants, generally even offering medical care from inside.
“He’s our eyes and ears within the automobile,” stated Greene Hearth Chief John Soucy.
When slicing the seatbelt is the one strategy to free somebody from a rollover, Farris places himself between the roof and the affected person to assist cushion their fall.
“That’s simply George,” stated Assistant Hearth Chief Phil Lavoie. “No matter must get accomplished, he does it.”
Born and raised in Greene, Farris joined the division at 22 years outdated. He’d all the time dreamed of changing into a health care provider, incomes his paramedicine license in 1987.
Since then, he’s particularly proud to have grown Greene’s volunteer EMT pressure. At one time, Farris was the one EMT within the division. Now there are six.
Past his service as a volunteer and paramedic, Farris is a CPR and primary hearth faculty teacher, instructing life-saving methods to native firefighters, EMTs and youngster care employees alike.
At 71, Farris stated he has no plans to retire from the fireplace division. To him, saving lives and coaching others is most necessary.
Simply as Farris was making ready to lock up the Greene Hearth Division Tuesday night time, his spouse by his aspect, his radio crackled to life. An uncooperative 80-year-old man with dementia was in want of medical help.
“I’ll be dwelling shortly,” he instructed his spouse, heading out to assist.
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