“If it wasn't for these men, I wouldn't be here.”

On the evening of July 11, 2026, Angela Wintermute did not feel well.

Her husband, Marc, came close to driving her to the emergency room himself. He called 911 instead. It was the decision that saved her life.

Angela’s heart stopped in the back of the ambulance. Three Strongsville firefighter/paramedics — Jason March, Lee Brass and Matt Janosek — performed CPR and brought her back.

Angela had no history of heart trouble. The cause was a blocked valve. She received a stent, spent 18 days at Southwest General, moved to a rehabilitation facility, and eventually went home.

On September 3, Angela and Marc walked into Station 4 on Prospect Road to thank the crew in person.

“I just want to shake the hands of the men who saved my beautiful wife,” Marc said.

The three paramedics had received only a few early updates. They did not know how the story had ended. “We didn’t know how she was. We were just hopeful,” March said.

Fire Chief Jack Draves described what happened as the American Heart Association’s chain of survival: six connected links, each one raising a patient’s chance of recovery. The earliest links are recognizing the emergency and starting CPR without delay.

“Every single doctor said the CPR was done exactly right,” Marc said.

Angela remembers little of the ride. “I’m just so glad this crew knew exactly what to do,” she said.

Why this is on the ballot

Angela’s outcome depended on a crew reaching her in time, and knowing exactly what to do when they arrived. Across Strongsville, emergency call volume has risen 200% since 2004, and response times have climbed toward 7 minutes against a recommended national average of about 4 minutes. Seventy percent of calls now arrive while another call is already in progress.

Issue 103 funds the firefighter/paramedics who answer those calls, including the crew that will staff the new fifth station when it opens in April 2027.