Joe Estes, a highway technician IV for the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT), had just started his shift last Sunday when he received the most important assignment of his more than seven-year career.
In the midst of last weekend’s historic snow storm, a baby boy needed quick transport to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. There was no way an ambulance could get there on its own.
Estes was asked to drive in front of the ambulance to clear a path.
“That’s when it really hit me of how critical this was,” Estes recalled in an interview with AFSCME. “If it wasn’t critical, it could have waited a day. Obviously, it’s got to go now and they cannot wait.”
Estes is a member of Chapter 3100 of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association (OCSEA/AFSCME Local 11). He has a long track record of serving his country, first in the military and now as a public service worker.
Like many AFSCME members, Estes takes pride in serving his community. A father himself, he feels humbled and honored to help a family, but he credits the health care professionals who cared for baby Bryson with saving the child’s life.
“Yeah, I plowed the way, I acknowledge my role in all of this,” he says. “They’re the ones who saved that baby’s life. I was just able to play a small role in getting them there.”