By Jeremy G. Burton
The Times-Tribune
SCRANTON, Pa. — A 35-year-old emergency medical technician died Monday after an apparent seizure in his ambulance in West Scranton.
The death of John Demkosky, who worked for Lackawanna Ambulance, stunned the tight-knit community of paramedics, 911 dispatchers and emergency services professionals and volunteers.
Mr. Demkosky, of Dunmore, seized and went into cardiac arrest about 8:45 a.m. as his vehicle was parked and waiting for calls, Deputy Coroner Tim Rowland said. He was rushed to Mercy Hospital, where he died in the emergency room.
He had no history of seizures, Mr. Rowland said. An autopsy was scheduled for today.
Known to friends by the nickname “Demo,” Mr. Demkosky previously worked as a Lackawanna County dispatcher and also volunteered as a firefighter for Chinchilla Hose Company, said Jeff Kovalchik, a dispatcher and friend.
In the often macabre work of emergency services, Mr. Demkosky was irrepressibly upbeat.
“He was the one who had the funny one-liners, and whether he had worked three hours or 24 hours, he was always smiling,” Mr. Kovalchik said.
On tragic days like this one, it was Mr. Demkosky who knew just how to lift everyone’s spirits, which made his sudden absence all the more numbing, Mr. Kovalchik said.
“We keep saying all night long, what would he say?” he said.
Mr. Demkosky was also known as a workaholic who lived for the job of an EMT.
“You met him, you remember him, and you’ll never forget him,” Mr. Kovalchik said.
Republished with permission from The Times-Tribune.