It helps to be a paramedic when you’ve just shot yourself in the
chest by accident.

That’s what Brian Gustafson of Smethport learned last month when
he accidentally shot himself with a .22-caliber firearm.

“As soon as that bullet hit me, it was immediately evident that
it hit my lung,” the 33-year-old owner of Priority Care Ambulance
Service said. “Just by the fact that I had increased difficulty in
breathing, I knew that that occurred.”

Gustafson had just returned home from a trip Oct. 20 when the
weapon fell out of his jacket, hit bricks near the fireplace and
discharged.

His paramedic knowledge enabled Gustafson to aid the paramedics
in helping him.

“Having a little bit of knowledge may be a good thing, it may be
a bad thing,” Gustafson said.

Gustafson said he told his wife to call McKean County 911 for an
ambulance when he was shot. Then, he called 911 again and said they
needed to send a medical helicopter.

“I knew what my injuries were, the potential of what my injuries
were,” he said. “I knew I needed to be in a trauma center someplace
to surgically repair my injuries.”

Meanwhile, Gustafson and his wife, who’s a registered nurse,
began setting up an IV.

“I had equipment in my truck, and after that occurred, I sat
down by the truck and had my wife start a couple of IVs,” Gustafson
said.

This forward-thinking was beneficial to both Gustafson and the
paramedics.

“I was a little bit ahead of the game, which helped everyone
else, myself included.”

Before the ambulance arrived, Gustafson, who is also a Smethport
Borough councilman and part-time borough police officer, knew he
was losing a large amount of blood.

Gustafson said he knew he needed a chest compression and let the
paramedics know he needed this done when they arrived.

“I knew more about what was going on than most people,”
Gustafson said. “I was able to help the guys in the ambulance in
doing what needed to be done.”

Gustafson said he knew the paramedic, Dave Nelson, when the
ambulance arrived.

“This is the kind of situation that Dave and I, along with
another paramedic, had worked together for years, but this time
they were working on me,” he said. “It was kind of a surreal
situation.”

A landing zone was set up by the Smethport Fire Department at
the site of the former Smethport Area Ambulance Service building on
East Water Street Extension, and Gustafson was flown by Mercy
Flight from Olean, N.Y., to Hamot Medical Center in Erie. He was in
critical condition at the time.

“In the helicopter on the way to Erie, I watched the monitor, my
blood pressure and could tell what was going on,” Gustafson said.
“It made it a different experience, not being on the other side of
the coin.”

Gustafson said he had blood accumulating in the left side of the
chest and knew what was going on from watching his vital signs.

Gustafson was discharged Oct. 25 from Hamot, and he said he’s
getting a little better each day, though he’s still a little short
of breath every now and then.

Thinking about future paramedic work experiences, Gustafson said
his experience will probably only relate to a situation where he
has to treat people with similar injuries to the one he had.

“Before, I could have never said I knew what it feels like to
have a collapsed lung,” he said. “Now I can say that. I have a
little bit of a different outlook, a keener appreciation.”