CLARK COUNTY – An Eastern Kentucky EMT sustained life-threatening injuries in an ambulance wreck while transporting a patient from Pikeville Medical Center to U.K. Albert B. Chandler Hospital.
According to police, it is believed the Lifeguard Ambulance was traveling westbound on the Mountain Parkway when it hit a guardrail and flipped off the road near mile marker 11 in Clark County.
The patient, identified as Deborah J. Akers, 66 years old, of Elkhorn City, was pronounced deceased at the scene of the single vehicle crash by the Clark County coroner.
Alex Wells, 23, of Prestonsburg, but originally from Salyersville, was working as an EMT in the back of the ambulance when it flipped, causing her to sustain very critical injuries. She was life flighted to U.K. Albert B. Chandler Hospital, where she remains at press time. She suffered multiple internal injuries and partial paralysis, according to family members, and is expected to have a lengthy hospital stay.
The driver, Chandler Faulkner, also from Magoffin County, was out of the vehicle and attempting to care for his coworker and patient when rescue crews arrived.
Faulkner, who is also in his early 20s, was beaten up in the crash, but was treated and released from the hospital that night. He gave a statement to Mortimer Media Group, simply asking that the public focus all thoughts and prayers on Alex Wells, her young daughter, and their family.
A friend of the family has set up a GoFundMe fundraiser to help her family cover the cost of travel, hotel rooms, food and any other expenses that may come from the expected long hospital stay. At press time, $12,930 has been raised on GoFundMe, with the link available by clicking here.
According to the family, Wells has been working as an EMT for 14 months.
