UNCOMMON VALOR: Her Life in Danger, Heroic Bonita Grad Comes to the Rescue

Jody Kelley graciously made a few remarks after the Ontario Fire Department recognized her for the heroic actions she took to save a paramedic.

Early morning on Mother’s Day, May 8, 2011, Jody Kelley, a 1988 Bonita High School graduate and currently a post-partum nurse in Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center’s (PVHMC) Labor and Delivery department, was on her way to work driving west on the San Bernardino freeway/Interstate 10 when she witnessed an ambulance veer off the freeway and strike a section of guardrail and sign pole at the Fourth Street off-ramp in Ontario.

She immediately pulled over, ran to the demolished ambulance and assessed the scene: The ambulance driver was hurt, but his injuries were not life-threatening. At the back of the ambulance, however, she found a second paramedic in traumatic full arrest, a condition in which the heart ceases to beat due to trauma to the chest area that involves the heart.

After crawling into the back of the flattened vehicle to try to assist the injured medic and start one-person CPR, a passing car, estimated at traveling between 60 and 70 mph., struck the sheered-off guardrail lying in the freeway, sending it flying into the side of the ambulance.

“It must have sounded like an express train,” said David Schuler, Ontario Fire Department Battalion Chief. “Jody told me it scared her pretty good.”

Although her life was endangered, Kelley persisted until she was able to get the medic on the ground and perform one-person CPR. Through her efforts and those of the rapidly responding Ontario Fire Department’s Medic Engine 135 (C Shift), which happens to be stationed close to where the accident occurred, they were able to restore the pulse of the injured paramedic and transfer him to nearby San Antonio Hospital in Upland.

The victim was kept alive for two hours in San Antonio’s emergency room until his family could be with him and say its goodbyes.

Jody Kelley alongside the Ontario Fire Department and proud members of her family.

Back at the accident scene, Kelley began tending to the other injured paramedic. “She didn’t just curl up in a ball,” Schuler said. “She kept helping.”

In recognition of Kelley’s heroism and uncommon valor, she received the Ontario Fire Department’s Civilian Citation — the first that the department can remember awarding in more than two decades — in a presentation at PVHMC on Thursday, June 30, in front of a crowded room of her peers.

When it finally came time for Kelley to speak, she was again selfless, deflecting praise to others.

“I want to thank the fire department,” Kelley said. “They really went above and beyond. Let me tell you these guys are great. They were shaking my hand, hugging me and calling me afterwards to see if I was okay … and informing my supervisor about what had happened. I hope they realize they’re the best.”

In response, Schuler also presented citations to members of Medic Engine 135 C.

“They never forgot the human factor,” he said.