Jacob Bevilacqua, MSN, APRN, CRNA

Jacob was driving his personal vehicle when he arrived as one of the first on scene of a migrant working bus that struck two trees and rolled over in a rural part of Florida. There were no English-speaking victims among the 52 migrant workers injured.

Jake climbed onto the bus and began triaging the injured before the first EMS apparatus arrived. As EMS providers - firefighters, paramedics, Lieutenants, and District Chiefs from several counties began to arrive and quickly reported to Jake. There ended up being 8 casualties, several critical patients, and the rest were walking wounded.

The entire scene was cleared of all viable patients, and they were transported to several emergency rooms within 60 minutes of the accident. I spoke to a few of the fire supervisors on the scene, and all said that Jake was instrumental in the success of this mass-casualty incident. They all said Jake handled this tragedy calmly and with clear thinking.

An EMS worker can go his or her entire career without encountering a scene like this. Jake encountered it while off duty and did an incredible job.