When Lower Kiski Ambulance medic Samantha Boyd learned her co-worker was injured on the job in an ambulance crash, she knew she had to help out any way she could.
So, Boyd started a GoFundMe account for paramedic Dina Filo-O’Neil and her husband, Ray. As of Thursday, it already had raised more than $10,000 toward its $20,000 goal.
“This husband and wife are absolute pillars in the community,” Boyd said. “They would give anyone the shirts off their backs. I just wanted to help them just like they would do for anyone else who needed it.”
Filo-O’Neil and her husband both are paramedics — Dina at Lower Kiski and Ray at New Kensington Ambulance. She also works for Lower Burrell Volunteer Fire Company No. 3 EMS. Ray is spending almost every minute he can with his wife at the hospital.
“He’s not working right now, and we want to make it so he doesn’t have to worry about it,” Boyd said. “We want to make sure that we can take away some of the burden.”
Filo-O’Neil was riding in the back of an ambulance, caring for a patient who was being transferred to UPMC St. Margaret hospital, when the ambulance crashed near The Waterworks mall in Pittsburgh.
Boyd, who has worked alongside Filo-O’Neil for three years, said she suffered multiple broken ribs, a shoulder fracture, orbital fractures and damaged vertebrae.
The crash occurred around 4 a.m. Wednesday when the ambulance driver, who was not injured, swerved to avoid a deer on Freeport Road near the Walnut Grill, Pittsburgh police said. The ambulance crashed into a guardrail along the road. The patient in the ambulance was not injured.
Boyd said Filo-O’Neil was still in the hospital and in stable condition as of Thursday afternoon.
Emily Bourne, a public information officer for Pittsburgh’s Department of Public Safety, said Filo-O’Neil’s condition is improving and the accident investigation is ongoing.
New Kensington EMS declined to comment.
Boyd also started a Meal Train page that gives people the option to either cook and deliver meals to Filo-O’Neil and her family or to donate money for food purchases.
