Patient survives and becomes Jamie’s biggest fan!


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Kickin’-Cajun-by-night, Paramedic-by-day Jamie Bergeron poses with his biggest fan Ms. Girlie Thibodeaux. Ms. Thibodeaux suffered a near-fatal heart attack during a performance by Jamie Bergeron and the Kickin’ Cajuns. Bergeron jumped off the stage and performed CPR until a rescue unit arrived.

Contact: W. Keith Simon, VP, PR, 1.800.259.3347

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, December 17, 2004

It was a typical Saturday night at Tony’s Dance Hall in Gueydan, LA, while the crowd two-stepped to the Kickin’ Cajuns’ Zydeco music. Jamie Bergeron was singing and doing his thing with his accordion when he noticed several in the crowd looking panic stricken. He calmly dropped his accordion and jumped off the stage before the band knew he was gone.

Jamie-the-musician had gone into Jamie-the-paramedic mode and immediately determined that one of his fans had gone into cardiac arrest. Seventy-three-year-old Girlie Thibodeaux had just finished dancing and had sat down at her table. Minutes later, she lay on the floor without a pulse. An Acadian Ambulance paramedic of fourteen years, Jamie began breathing life back into Ms. Girlie. While he performed life-saver breathing, a first responder performed chest compressions.

The rescue unit from the Gueydan Fire Department received the call from 911. They brought in an AED (Automatic External Defibrillator), and connected it to Ms. Girlie. Ms. Girlie’s heart was shocked two times. “We got a pulse after the second shock,” said Fire Chief Troy LeBlanc. “I don’t know what would have happened without the AED.”

Chief LeBlanc has high praise for the AED. Acadian Ambulance medics trained the fire department on how to use the equipment which been in use for about a year now.

Jamie called Acadian’s communication center and made sure they were sending Air Med. He instructed the fire fighters to prepare a night landing zone outside.

Within minutes Air Med arrived and prepared Ms. Girlie for transport to Lafayette General Medical Center. While Ms. Girlie remains in ICU recuperating, she is ever thankful that she chose to go hear the Kickin’ Cajuns that night. Thinking about what could have happened, Ms. Girlie becomes very emotional. “I wouldn’t be here today, if it hadn’t been for Jamie,” she cried. When asked when she plans to visit her favorite band again, Ms. Girlie answered, “I’m going to follow him wherever he goes.”

After Ms. Girlie was transported, Jamie suggested that everyone in the club take a little break. He announced that Ms. Girlie was being transported by Air Med and asked that everyone keep her in their prayers. After visiting Ms. Girlie in the hospital, and seeing her sitting up in bed and talking, he decided those prayers really worked.

“It doesn’t usually happen like this,” Jamie said. “Not too often do you handle a cardiac arrest where the patient gets CPR within seconds, and then you get to visit them in the hospital a couple of days later. This was awesome.

On Jamie’s website for his band, kickincajuns.com, you will see a picture of a very young Jamie working his day job as an Acadian paramedic and the statement “he balances his life-saving job with his music career.” While this is true, his band didn’t really think of him as a life-saver until they witnessed the near-fatal incident Saturday night.

According to Jamie’s manager, John Dwyer, the band has a newfound respect for Jamie. They think of Jamie more as a musician than anything else, and would often joke with him about his “day job.” Now that they’ve seen him in action, they have a deep respect for his medical skills.

“We all got a little nervous when we saw Mrs. Thibodeaux lying on the floor,” explained John. “It was apparent by her lifeless body and her family’s reactions that the situation was very serious. When we saw Jamie jump off the stage and start performing CPR and then using the AED…we were in shock. It was really something to see him work like that. He just automatically turned into a paramedic. And when it was all over, he started playing again, and finished his set!”

A native of Mire, Louisiana, Jamie was raised in a French-speaking, Cajun family. He grew up listening to his dad play the accordion at their family gatherings and always knew that one day he would follow in his father’s footsteps. He also knew that he wanted to help people and has been fulfilling that dream at Acadian Ambulance Service as a paramedic for the last fourteen years. But, now Jamie fulfills another dream. A late starter, Jamie began playing the accordion only 6 years ago, and is making up for lost time with the Kickin’ Cajuns.

Any job in the emergency medical services profession is extremely stressful. Kickin’ up the dust with a little Zydeco at the end of the day is just the right ingredient to keep Jamie’s career perfectly balanced.

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