• Paralyzed patients at a neurological rehabilitation unit in Salt Lake City, Utah, recently got a unique, up-close look at emergency response equipment.
• The fire brigade from Marathon Petroleum Corporation’s Salt Lake City refinery demonstrated rescue techniques at the facility to give patients and their families a special gift on Father’s Day.
• During the visit, a facility volunteer who also uses a wheelchair was inspired to achieve the feat of pulling himself into the driver’s seat of the brigade’s ladder truck.   

Gared Dore volunteers at a neurological rehabilitation unit in Salt Lake City, Utah, providing support to patients who, like him, use wheelchairs after becoming paralyzed in accidents. Volunteering allows Dore to bring encouragement to others, but he said he couldn’t have imagined it would give him a chance to meet the personal challenge of pulling himself into the driver’s seat of a fire truck.

“When thrown into a wheelchair, you figure that now there is just a lot of stuff that will simply never end up being achieved,” said Dore, who was injured in 2009 at the age of 23. “This was the highest vehicle that I ever worked to get into. It was a ‘king of the world’ moment.”

Dore’s accomplishment came during a Father’s Day visit to the Intermountain Health facility by 13 members of the fire brigade from Marathon Petroleum Corporation’s (MPC) Salt Lake City refinery. They brought three trucks and a variety of equipment to demonstrate firefighting and rescue techniques, giving 15 patients, their families and facility volunteers an up-close look. MPC Emergency Response Coordinator Brock Carter, who also volunteers at the facility, arranged the visit with the eager backing of the brigade.

“This was the highest vehicle that I ever worked to get into. It was a ‘king of the world’ moment.”

“Our guys have kind hearts and took time away from their own families on this special day to bring some smiles to those being challenged with some hard times,” Carter said.

Carter understands hard times.  A 2015 four-wheeler accident left him paralyzed from the chest down. He and Dore draw upon their personal experiences when ministering to patients who may stay in the rehab program as long as six months, depending on their injuries and recovery processes.

“Showing others the possibilities that come from striving to better yourself is what life is about,” said Dore, who pointed to the fire brigade’s visit as an example of how to inspire patients. “They were talking about it even the next week when I went in. It made them feel cared about and let them escape the reality of their current situations.”