Paige Lauten visits ‘heroes’ at Quality EMS
ADAMS TWP — Christmas came early at Quality EMS on Monday, Dec. 11, with crews receiving a surprise visit from a familiar face.
Paige Lauten, a ninth-grade student at Mars Area High School who was struck by a car in November 2022 along Route 228, came carrying holiday treats — and a special “thank you” card for the men who helped save her life just over a year ago.
The card read: “my heroes.”
But deputy chief paramedic Keith Singleton — who worked with Paige as she was rushed to UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh last year — insisted she was the real hero.
“We just drove her to the hospital,” Singleton said.
However, Singleton said he “threw the book at her” on their race to the hospital that night.
“We broke every rule imaginable to get her to the hospital,” he said, “because everything that you’re supposed to do just wasn’t working.”
As a seasoned paramedic, Singleton said “the loneliest place in the world is in the back of an ambulance.”
He said the ride is very often only the patient and the paramedic, both fighting an agonizing “30-40 minute” battle to the hospital.
“It is the loneliest place in the world,” Singleton said. “Most people don’t realize that when they see an ambulance going out.”
Conrad Pfeifer, executive director, said the ambulance’s driver that night — crew chief emergency medical technician Heather Flack — represented the gold standard for the agency.
“I use her as an example of how to get somewhere quickly and safely in dire circumstances,” he said.
And with the further assistance of retired deputy chief paramedic Pat Kelly, Singleton said the crews safely delivered Paige to the waiting teams at the hospital last November.
“It was like, ‘We’ve run out of normal stuff to do, what else can we try and do for this kid?’” he said. “And we did, and it worked.”
The real thanks, Singleton said, was owed to the diligence of the agency and its partnership with UPMC.
“It was crazy, but she’s doing great,” he said. “She’s going to be dealing with this for the rest of her life, but she’s walking, she’s talking. What more could you ask for?”
Pfeifer said he organized the visit following an update from Paige’s mother Amy last month.
Her Nov. 29 update — on the anniversary of the accident — confirmed Paige was back in school full time as a freshman and had returned to playing softball.
“She is still learning how to get her speed back and run properly, but she isn’t backing down,” the update read. “She never will. And hopes to be fully back in the Spring for Mars softball and then travel softball over the summer.
The medical team at Quality EMS has been following Paige’s recovery, according to Pfeifer, and the visit provided the unique opportunity for them to meet with her for the first time since the incident.
“It was nice to see her,” Flack said. “That was a surprise.”
Paige was given a complete tour of the facility, and Singleton said he shared his own story with her of recovering from an accident in his youth.
“I got hit by a car, around the same age,” he said. “It was in a rural part of Ireland, and I got hit by a drunk driver.”
Singleton said it was “nice to relate to Paige” through the story and to experience such a positive outcome from his own work.
“It’s definitely one of the calls that plays on your mind a little bit,” he said. “‘Did I do the right thing? Is there anything I could’ve done differently?’”
Seeing Paige’s recovery firsthand proved a gratifying experience for the crews, according to Singleton.
“In all my years of doing this, I’ve never, ever seen a recovery like that,” he said. “It worked out really well.”
And Pfeifer reiterated that the dedication and professionalism of the crews played a large part in ensuring things worked out that way.
“These crews, no kidding, saved her life,” Pfeifer said.
