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Submitted Photo~Highspire Police Officer Ron Weber stands in front of the car that he can’t drive because of a knee injury he suffered while helping a woman who had collapsed in a McDonald’s restaurant in 2008.
Officer who saved a life, now fights to get his back
by Debra Schell
Press And Journal Staff
: 2/10/2010
Ron Weber saved a woman’s life a couple years ago, but in the process he took an injury that may have changed his forever.
Oct. 3, 2008, started out like any other day for Weber, a 12-year veteran of the Highspire Police Department. Then a call came over the radio — medical help was needed at the McDonald’s on W. Harrisburg Pike. A woman there had collapsed and appeared to be unconscious.
The restaurant was just across the borough line in Lower Swatara Twp., but Weber was only minutes away with an automated external defibrillator. Weber, a certified emergency medical technician since 1993, arrived at the scene and attached the AED machine to Yvonne Barnes. He was about to shock Barnes when he noticed he was kneeling in a puddle. Barnes had knocked over her food and drink when she fell.
“I jumped off the floor and caught my duty belt on the edge of a table, and didn’t think about it, I was just concerned for the victim,” Weber said.
Barns recovered in the hospital, but his sudden move left Weber with a knee injury that has plagued him since that day. Later this month the officer will undergo his third surgery to correct the problem that has prevented him from doing the job he loves – being a police officer.
After the event in October Weber started having knee pain.
“After walking back to my vehicle that day I felt serious discomfort in my left knee,” said Weber.
He told police chief John McHale about it, but didn’t seek medical attention for another two weeks. Doctors couldn’t find any injury and suspected a strain or sprain. They prescribed physical therapy. Meanwhile, Weber was unable to work.
After three months of therapy, his doctors suggested arthroscopic surgery.
For the operation, surgeons used a small camera to look inside the knee, which is the largest joint in the body, and one of the most easily injured, according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Web site.
The surgery revealed a tear in the cartilage between two bones, which they removed, Weber said. More rehab and physical therapy followed, but still there was no improvement in Weber’s knee.
Another exploratory surgery in July of 2008 revealed more torn cartilage and surgeons removed it, Weber said. That’s when Weber’s doctor told him more physical therapy was his only hope, he said.
Still, Weber said, he was optimism that things would work out. He went to see a specialist last month. The specialist recommended yet another surgery. This one, he was told, would give him a 50 percent chance of a full recovery.
“I am optimistic because I have to be,” he said.
Weber just wants to be able to work. He can’t imagine being anything other than a police officer.
McHale, who also serves as borough manager, wants his officer back, too.
“He is a very proactive, community service oriented guy,” said McHale. “He is one of the first to volunteer to take on something new and he is a valuable asset to the force.”
It’s a burden for the borough to be short a police officer. The cost of using part time officers and giving full-timers overtime hours has put more of a burden on the budget, McHale said.
“I hope he can return to work, but if he can’t then I hope that council would replace him,” said McHale.
The resuscitation of Barnes in October was the second time Weber had used the AED to save a life. On June 7, 2008, he revived a man who had attempted to take his own life.
So a month after the rescue, Highspire Mayor John Hoerner presented Weber with a Life Saving Award at a borough council meeting.
“Officer Ron Weber’s rapid response and quick thinking has resulted in saving the patients’ lives, while executing his duties with the utmost professionalism,” the award read.
Barnes, contacted last week, lamented she was never able to thank Weber in person. A month after her fall, her husband died of a heart attack.
“I thank him very much from the bottom of my heart,” she said. “Thank God he was able to revive me and had the equipment to do it.”
The injury Weber sustained that day changed his life, limiting him from participating in outdoor activities with friends and family and holding him back from training to participate in a triathlon.
Weber’s next date with a surgeon is Feb. 22.
After that, he will focus on getting better so he can start training for a triathlon.
“I know that there is a reality that I have to understand, that I may not recover,” he said. “But I don’t want to think about it.”
Contact Debra at 717-944-4628 or e-mail dschell@pressandjournal.com.
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