Ambulance service brings holiday cheer.

January 1, 2006 - Paramount makes sure a dying Rockford woman is home for christmas. A dying Rockford, Ill., woman was home for Christmas thanks to the generosity of a Dubuque ambulance service.

Greg Zemola, 48, has been fighting multiple myeloma (a cancer of the blood's plasma cells) with mixed success for five years. From Oct. 2 to Dec. 8 he was at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., undergoing a donor cell transplant. On Dec. 6, he got a call informing him that Rockford doctors had found terminal lung cancer in his wife of 18 years.

Donna Zemola, 53, was eventually taken to the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics in Madison for special procedures to help her breathe and talk.

But Christmas was fast approaching and Greg and Donna wanted to spend their last holiday together; not in a hospital room, but in the comfort of their Rockford home. Greg arranged for hospice care for his wife. The next hurdle he faced was how to bring her home from Madison.

That's when one of his sisters stepped in to help.

"I asked our local ambulance service and they put me in touch with Paramount EMS in Dubuque," said Alicia McMillian, of Galena, Ill.

To complicate matters, the Zemolas had just about reached the $1 million limit on their health insurance plan. Greg told his sister they probably could not afford the charge for an ambulance transportation trip.

"I explained their situation and that they wanted to have her home for Christmas and (Paramount) said, "We'll get her there and don't worry if the insurance doesn't pay for it," McMillian said.

On Christmas Eve, two Paramount paramedic specialists headed to Madison, loaded Donna into the ambulance, and drove to Rockford, where they carefully got her set up in a hospital bed in her home.

"At this time of year, family really needs to be with family and they shouldn't have to worry about whether they can pay for it," said Maria Ney, who owns Paramount E.M.S. "We're not just a company out to make money. We want to offer a service to our community."

Ney, who established her business in 2003, with the help from her husband, Marvin, has offered a similar service for the past three seasons. "Home for the Holidays" is a free program where nursing home residents are transported to their family's Easter, Christmas and Thanksgiving celebrations, or other family events, and back to their care centers.

Marvin Ney said, "It's hard to say 'no.' We've been fortunate and when we see a need, we fill it. We figure it'll come back some day." We're overwhelmed that (Paramount) opened their hearts to help us in such a drastic, tragic situation.

Telegraph Herald - January 1, 2006 - Page 1A

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