Answering the Call
For Zach, being on call at Sand Lake Ambulance isn’t something he turns on and off. It’s a constant state of readiness: listening, watching, waiting, knowing that at any moment, someone in the community may need help in the worst moment of their life.
On the night David St. Pierre suffered a sudden cardiac arrest, Zach was on duty as part of the Sand Lake Ambulance response team. Like every shift, it began with preparation: checking equipment, reviewing protocols, staying sharp. And like every call, there was no way to know what the next few minutes would demand.
When the call came in, Zach and his teammates responded as they had trained to do: quickly, deliberately, and without hesitation. This was a high-stakes emergency, the kind EMS professionals prepare for through countless hours of training and experience. Every decision mattered, and every step had to be right.
Zach worked alongside his team and regional partners as part of a coordinated response that included dispatchers, EMS crews, hospital physicians, and nurses, each playing a critical role. It was not one person’s moment. It was a system working as intended.
David survived.
Weeks later, Zach stood in a very different setting: a recognition ceremony honoring the 19 individuals who helped save David’s life. He stood alongside fellow responders, bystanders, and medical professionals, and across from David himself.
For Zach, the moment was meaningful, but complicated. He didn’t see himself as a hero, and didn’t feel like he had done anything extraordinary. In his mind, he had simply done his job – the job he trained for, committed to, and shows up for every time he’s on call.
That mindset is common among EMS professionals. The work isn’t about recognition, but about preparedness. It’s about being there when someone else is having their worst day, and bringing skill, and care into chaos.
Still, standing in that room, seeing David alive, smiling, and reunited with those who helped him, Zach felt the weight of what the work truly means. Not in accolades, but in outcomes. In families kept whole, and in time given back.
Being on call at Sand Lake Ambulance means long hours, interrupted nights, and moments of intense responsibility. It means trusting your training, your teammates, and the partnerships built across agencies and hospitals. It means showing up quietly, doing the work, and moving on to the next call. Zach wouldn’t have written this story himself. But it’s an important one to tell.
Because behind every lifesaving outcome is a professional who showed up prepared. Behind every ceremony is someone who believes they were just doing their job. And behind every job well done is a team committed to service, to one another, and to the community they protect.
Zach and his fellow Sand Lake Ambulance team members were honored that day not because they sought recognition, but because their work mattered. And it still does.
Together, we save lives.