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December 24, 2008

Firefighters adopt a family

On Monday, I spent time with cops in Baltimore's Eastern District as they handed out boxes filled with food and toys to those less fortunate. Yesterday, it was the firefighter's turn. I went out with a group from Engine Co. 29 and Medic 17 to a home on Oswego Avenue in Park Heights. At the far lest is Firefighter Michael Hineline. Next to him is Lt. Tom Tosh. Battalion Chief Mark Ruff is in the back with the white hat. Lachuna Sheppard is in the foreground on the right.

It was there three weeks ago that some of these same firefighters responded to frantic call for help from Lachuna Sheppard. Her 22-month-old son, Jashon Stephens, had stopped breathing. The firefighters revived him and got him to Sinai, and then later to Johns Hopkins Hospital where he remains in intensive care. Joshon was born with a heart defect, has one lung -- which collapsed -- and his stomach is tied. He has spent more time at Hopkins than at home.

His first year was the hardest, his mother told me, with seven surgeries. But then, Jashon made it at home for six months without needing emergency care. It took his mother, her sister, her brother and their parents, in addition to a nurse working 19 hours a day, to give Jashon proper care. All was going well until that one night three weeks ago. Sheppard told me that Jashon had been playing on the floor, suddenly grew tired and toppled over. His face was blue.

The firefighters and paramedics rushed to help Jashon, get him oxygen and get him to the hospital. Lt. Tom Tosh decided later to adopt the family; he told me he liked the way Sheppard cared for her son, that she knew the medical procedures and made it easy for his paramedics to administer proper care.

Today's column in the print edition gives more details. Here are some more photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted by Peter Hermann at 6:02 AM | | Comments (0)
        

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About Peter Hermann
Peter Hermann started covering news for The Baltimore Sun in 1990, first in Anne Arundel County and, starting in 1994, reporting on the Baltimore Police Department. In 2001, he was assigned to Jerusalem as the Baltimore Sun's Middle East correspondent. He returned in 2005 as an assistant city editor overseeing crime coverage. In 2008, Peter returned to the beat as a daily reporter and blogger. A recent BBC report featured him in a segment on the harsh realities of covering crime in Baltimore.

Coverage will focus on crime trends, problems in neighborhoods in the city and elsewhere, profiles of victims and police officers and try to offer readers a fresh perspective on one of the most vexing issues facing Baltimore and its future.



Contributing to this blog is Justin Fenton, who joined The Sun in 2005 and has covered the Baltimore City Police Department and the criminal justice system since 2008. His work includes an investigation into Cal Ripken Jr.’s minor league baseball stadium deal with his hometown of Aberdeen, a three-part series chronicling a ruthless con woman, coverage of the killing of five Amish children at a schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pa., and a job swap with a British crime reporter to explore differences in crime-fighting. A special report looking into how city police handle rape cases led to sweeping reforms that changed the way sexual assaults are investigated in Baltimore. He was recognized as the best reporter in Baltimore by the City Paper in 2010 and by Baltimore Magazine in 2011.
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