FREDERICK MELO
Courtesy of the Cape Cod Times
CENTERVILLE - When Josh Hanson was killed in a Thanksgiving Day car accident
in Newton, the crash echoed off Nantucket and spilled onto the Cape.
Hanson, 26, an ambulance driver with American Medical Response, was
responding to a heart attack at a nursing home when a Toyota Corolla
carrying a family of four struck his vehicle. He lived in Plainville but
grew up on Nantucket.
A service was held for Hanson yesterday at Our Lady of Victory Church in
Centerville.
More than 500 rescue personnel - including police, paramedics, firefighters,
Emergency Medical Technicians and dispatchers - attended Hanson's funeral,
according to Kevin Prendergast, a vice president with American Medical
Response.
"I've been in emergency medical service for 25 years, and no service I've
been involved in has had a death in the line of duty," Prendergast said.
Hanson was born in Syracuse, N.Y., and moved to Nantucket at an early age.
He attended Fitchburg State College.
He had been an EMT for American Medical Response for more than four years in
the company's Hyde Park and Newton stations.
Hanson had become close friends with his supervisor, Dan Sullivan, and both
men were nearing completion of their studies at Massasoit Community College
School of Nursing in Brockton.
Hanson's choice of profession was no accident, according to family and
friends.
"He's a very giving guy," said his grandmother, Elizabeth Hanson of Cotuit.
"We loved him to pieces."
Hanson had not been scheduled to work on Thanksgiving, but agreed to swap
the shift with a female co-worker so she could spend the holiday with her
young child. He and a partner were rushing to answer an emergency call at
the Waban Health and Rehabilitation Center in Newton when their ambulance
was reportedly struck.
The crash, which occurred shortly after 9 a.m. at the intersection of Beacon
and Chestnut Streets, sent the ambulance into a spin that ended when the
vehicle fell on its driver side and slid backward more than 100 feet.
Hanson's partner was able to escape with minor injuries, and the occupants
of the Toyota were not injured in the accident.
Authorities are investigating who may have been at fault in the fatal crash.
Prendergast noted that Hanson's file is full of letters of commendation from
patients complimenting him on his "kindness and professionalism.
"Those two words were reoccurring. He was, in a caring profession, noted by
others who work in the health care field as a particularly caring person,"
Prendergast said. "He was the kind of guy who instantly disarmed anyone ...
Our staff described him as the life of the ambulance station."
Hanson leaves a wide network of friends and family across Massachusetts,
including his father Duane Hanson and his uncle, Wayne Hanson, both of
Nantucket, and his wife, Rachel.
"He was a wonderful person and we loved him dearly," Elizabeth Hanson said.
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