Marty Luffman, Smyrna (TN) Historian, July 18, 2018
“For many years, Smyrna didn’t have doctors that worked during the evening and night shift, even though we had a hospital.
We would transfer accident victims or any medical emergency, by Mr. Walter Hoover’s hearse to the Murfreesboro hospital.
I was a member of the Smyrna Rescue Squad. We decided to get an ambulance and we needed licensed attendants and drivers. I volunteered. I got the CDL and went to school and was certified as an EMT.
The next four years were unbelievable. Seeing every imaginable accident or illness.
Mr. W.E. Carter and Mr. Red York had me out on every dragging/drowning rescue. One of the earliest memories, we pulled a victim from the Fate Sanders area. We got him in the ambulance, I was sitting beside him filling out my report. His muscles started restricting, causing him to move. My mental state can’t be described.
I wish I had kept a diary.
There was a situation, a young person, fell off the bluffs, and was hanging in a tree. We got them out, but Mr. John Goodman, our chief, put me in a “rappelling school”.
It wasn’t long before, my new skill was used fairly often. Not always by Smyrna, but other areas needing assistance.
There were many other “experiences”. Some that can’t be described and some way to gory to share.
When we started getting new Doctors, I let my licensee expire.
Once you have learned CPR, you never forget it. It’s a reaction. I have used this several times over the past decades. Once on my oldest son, where ever fiber in your body is strained and it takes every bit of energy to not panic.