Sept. 04--Jackson County Firefighter/EMT James Freudenberg is back in paramedic school after almost three weeks of recovery from the steam injuries he suffered in an Aug. 12 firefight at a house in Cottondale. He received 2nd and 3rd degree burns on his right hand and arm, and 1st and 2nd degree burns to his ears, neck and shoulder. Most of those last injuries have essentially healed, but those to his hand and arm were more serious.
On Friday, a friend will drive him to Pensacola so that he can be fitted with a special stay-on glove to help his right hand and lower arm heal, withstand heat and minimize his pain and scarring.
Right now, he can't stand to drive more than the short distance from his home to school at Chipola College, which is just down the street. His arm and hand are so sensitive that he can't stay outdoors much longer than it takes to walk from a vehicle to the air-conditioned classrooms there.
Freudenberg underwent a skin graft to an area near his wrist, and last Thursday the bandages from that surgery were removed. He knows that the glove won't be able to undo all the scarring, but said the graft look much better than it did when the bandages were first unwrapped. He's trying to view the likely permanent scars as a badge of honor.
Freudenberg expects to be back to work with Jackson County Fire Rescue in three to four months, on light-duty assignments at first. Doctors have estimated it will be a year before he'll be able to fight fire again. Until then, he will concentrate on the medical end of his job. Before long, he'll be able to ride the ambulance and tend to patients once they're in the vehicle and headed to the hospital.
In the few weeks that he's been laid up, he's learned a lot more about caring for fire injuries, much more than he might have otherwise absorbed in that length of time. Every time a medication was prescribed or a procedure was ordered in his own case, Freudenberg dug into all the text he could find on the subject, immersing himself in the facts.
He said that's one positive that's come from his experience. He plans to put his new knowledge to use in helping others. As for the negatives, like the nightmares he still has every night, Freudenberg is optimistic about the healing power of time.
Things have been made much easier for him because of his fellow crew members and the community that reached out to help them raise money to help him with expenses like fuel and lodging during this crisis, he said. The Tallahassee Professional Firefighters Association put on a fundraiser as well, gathering at least $500 on his behalf; the total is still being calculated. Some of his home crew members and classmates drive him where he needs to go, make sure he has food and keep his grass mowed at home. His fellow classmates in paramedic school also tutored him on the classroom work he missed in the last few weeks.
"My co-workers and fellow students have been amazing," he said. "Pretty much everything I need, they've helped me take care of. They call all the time to see if I need anything and they've been really, really supportive."
With the help of his classmates, he's kept up, he said, even though he won't be able to graduate with his class. Because of his injuries, he will not be able to do his hands-on clinical course work in time for that ceremony. They'll graduate in December; he's looking at early spring of next year.
Freudenberg said he can't wait to get back to work at JCFR and to earn his new degree in paramedic care.
As for his close call in the firefight, Freudenberg said he believes angels and St. Floren, the patron saint of firefighters, helped protect him. That belief in higher powers goes a long way back, and he wears permanent evidence of it. He has a professionally-crafted tattoo that runs the length of his left arm. He's had it a long time. It shows a firefighter in battle, with an angel sitting in the midst of the smoke. The morning of the Cottondale fire, he was wearing the St. Floren medal that his mother gave him long ago. He only wears it at work, and right now it's safely tucked away at home, awaiting the day when he can sling it around his neck and head to the station once again.
Copyright 2013 - Jackson County Floridan, Marianna, Fla.
