Using Old Skills in New Ways

SOMERSWORTH - He has been a nurse, an EMT, a police officer, a state trooper and a member of the governor's security detail. Now as the deputy chief and operations manager for American Ambulance, John Cody is using some of the skills he has in new and different ways.

Paul Robidas, chief and general manager, said he has been grooming Cody for the job for two years. American Ambulance holds contracts to provide emergency medical response for Somersworth and the Maine communities of Berwick and Kittery.

Robidas said when American was awarded the contract with Somersworth in 2013 and he began to assemble a team, he had his eye on Cody.

"We knew we wanted to bring on the best of the best," Robidas said.

Cody said he was inspired to become an EMT after a fellow trooper was killed in the line of duty.

Sergeant James S. Noyes was responding to a SWAT call on Oct. 3, 1994 in Gilford when he was shot and killed during an attempt to save an elderly man from harming himself.

"It was because of Jimmy Noyes that I became a paramedic," Cody said. "I had always wanted to and Jimmy's death was the driving force."

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