Paula Dollens, a Springfield resident, sat down this week with the Greenbrier firefighters and Robertson County EMS paramedics who kept her alive after her heart stopped along U.S. Highway 41S last August. Dollens had just left a restaurant in Greenbrier when she became unconscious; her husband called 911 while her sister-in-law found her without a pulse and not breathing.
The details of that August 2025 emergency and Tuesday's reunion were shared in a Facebook post from Robertson County Emergency Medical Services. Greenbrier Fire Department sent five personnel to the scene, and Robertson County EMS arrived with two paramedics, with firefighters starting CPR before the ambulance crew took over advanced life support.
Her Heart Stopped Twice More En Route to the Hospital
Once EMS arrived, responders intubated Dollens and administered medications inside the ambulance to stabilize her heart rhythm, according to the same post. During the resuscitation effort, she went into cardiac arrest two additional times before responders restarted her heart and restored her pulse en route to the hospital.
Dollens arrived at TriStar NorthCrest Medical Center in critical condition, where emergency department staff and doctors provided specialized cardiac care and further stabilization, per the department's account. NorthCrest, a 109-bed acute care hospital in Springfield, holds Gold Seal accreditation from The Joint Commission as a Chest Pain Center, according to TriStar Health. HCA Healthcare acquired the facility in 2021, making it the primary acute medical provider for Robertson County.
Why Every Minute Mattered
Every minute that passes without CPR and defibrillation during sudden cardiac arrest cuts a patient's odds of survival by roughly 10 percent, according to American Heart Association research cited in the reunion post. The same research shows that immediate CPR from bystanders or first responders can double or triple a patient's chances of surviving cardiac arrest.
Nationally, out-of-hospital cardiac arrest strikes roughly 350,000 Americans a year, and the overall survival rate to hospital discharge sits at just 9 to 10.2 percent, per 2025 guidelines published in Circulation. Against those odds, the chain of care that started with a 911 call from Dollens' husband and ended with doctors at NorthCrest is the kind of rapid response cardiologists point to when a patient survives.
The Local Network Built to Beat the Clock
Robertson County EMS, directed by Brent Dyer, runs an 11-ambulance fleet positioned across Springfield, Coopertown, White House and Ridgetop/Greenbrier to keep response times short, according to Smokey Barn News. The county added three new four-wheel-drive diesel ambulances in late 2024, with dedicated units placed at Ridgetop/Greenbrier and Coopertown to replace aging, high-mileage vehicles, the outlet has reported.
Greenbrier Fire Department, headquartered at 202 W. College St. under Chief Kyle Hamill, answers more than 1,100 emergency calls a year, with medical and rescue calls making up 69.6% of that volume, per Digital Firehouse. The mostly volunteer department, which fields 27 personnel including 26 paid-per-call members, averages an emergency response time of 4 minutes and 39 seconds inside city limits, according to City of Greenbrier activity reports. Nearby, the Ridgetop Fire Department provides automatic mutual aid along the Highway 41 S corridor with its own certified EMTs and first responders.
Dollens Says Thank You
On Tuesday, Dollens returned to Greenbrier in person to thank the crews who worked on her, joined by her daughter, Tiffany Ellis, and her best friend, Charlene Rice. Dollens said she prays for the responders and thanks God for them, crediting Greenbrier Fire Department and Robertson County EMS with helping save her life.
The reunion comes weeks after Robertson County crews faced a starkly different outcome, when a fatal I-65 crash near White House underscored how often the county's ambulance crews are called into life-or-death situations.
