Bedford paramedic Remy Surprenant honored by 2 NH departments for lifesaving

Yahoo

24-03-2025

Mar. 24—No one yelled, "Is there a paramedic in the house?" when a club member went into cardiac arrest at a Salem golf course last summer. They didn't have to. There was one just feet away.
If timing is everything, the man in distress sure picked his spot. Not only was off-duty Bedford paramedic Remy Surprenant there, the owner of the club is retired Salem Fire Department Capt. Kevin Campbell. He and his facilities and project manager, Chris Cares, were also at the ready at Campbell's Scottish Highlands Golf Course.
Using an automated external defibrillator, the three worked together to shock the man out of cardiac arrest and help him until emergency responders arrived.
The man survived and is doing well, Cares said.
Colleagues in Bedford say Surprenant's actions were, pardon the pun, par for the course.
"When Remy came to us, we could tell that he is a medically minded person. In the world of EMS, this is an indisposable asset. Remy has also proven to be community-driven. He values the community he serves, and he has gotten involved beyond the department level. He represents the department and Local 3639 well," said Bedford Fire Chief Scott Hunter, who retires this week.
Surprenant was honored recently at the annual awards ceremonies for both the Bedford and Salem fire departments. In addition to taking home his two EMS Life Saving Awards, he was named Bedford's EMS Provider of the Year.
"This was off shift and out of town, but he witnessed a cardiac arrest where he stepped in and provided immediate aid, CPR, and had a successful outcome," Bedford Town Manager Rick Sawyer said at a Town Council meeting recently.
The 31-year-old paramedic/firefighter is a Merrimack resident who is coming up on his four-year anniversary in Bedford. He said he was grateful for the recognition, but he was just doing his job even if he was on another job at the time.
"I was actually there on one of my other jobs," said Surprenant, who was working at a booth for Prime IV Hydration & Wellness during the 30th anniversary celebration for the golf course. "Somebody said, 'Hey, there's a guy in the clubhouse who's down.' So, I went and checked it out and he was on the ground. It looked like he was seizing."
Cares ran to get the defibrillator, and the three men saved his life.
"After a couple minutes of CPR, we decided to grab our in-house AED," Cares said. "Once we put him on the pads, it told us to give him a shock. So, we stepped back and gave him a hit. And, you know, luckily, he came back to life, and we had him fully alert and almost sitting up by the time the Fire Department arrived."
The man was lucky, Surprenant said.
"Statistics on cardiac arrest are generally unfavorable," he said. "He had the right people there. He had the right equipment there, and what was happening was reversible."
Finding his way
From an early age, Surprenant knew he wanted to be a paramedic while growing up in a blue-collar family in Littleton, Mass.
"I grew up in a fire station," he said. "My father was an on-call firefighter in the town I grew up in. We didn't really have full-time firefighters. They were all on-call. There was a big bell on the top of the fire station you could hear from the backyard. My dad would get off the tractor and leave."
His father started a youth Explorer Firefighter program in their community, and when Surprenant was old enough, he attended the fire academy, got his certifications and worked as an on-call firefighter and worked toward becoming an EMT. He worked in Lowell and Haverhill, Mass., where he eventually became a paramedic. By that time, Bedford had an opening, and he pounced.
Future plans
Surprenant lives in Merrimack with his wife. The two of them have been together for 15 years.
"She's earning her master's for occupational therapy right now. She's almost done. Once that's done, it's family time," he said.
In addition to his job in Bedford and at Prime IV, Surprenant also teaches paramedics and advanced EMTs in Manchester.
As he continues to sharpen his firefighting skills, he'd like to climb the ranks and take on more leadership duties.
"I definitely want to be an officer someday, but that also entails me getting expertise in a plethora of other things," he said. "Luckily, I've only been at this for four years, so I have 21 years to go figure it out."
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