FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A 101-year-old veteran has become fast friends with a group of Fort Lauderdale firefighters, and it wouldn’t take long for them to see he needed more than just medical care.
Werner Frickman, who once served under Gen. George S. Patton during World War II, called first responders after he had trouble with his heart rate.
“But then, on the way to the hospital, it dropped to the 20s and then a little further down. On the way into the hospital, it dropped into the teens, and then panic started setting into me, and I didn’t know that I was in the process of dying,” he said.
But the group of firefighters from Fort Lauderdale Fire Station 13 refused to let him go that easy.
“We did everything we could to help him, and it ended up being a good outcome,” said Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Capt. Rick Pardo.
Frickman said the quick rescue from first responders saved his life, but also formed a new friendship and bond.
A short time later, the veteran’s birthday rolled around, and the same fire crew showed up at his door to wish him a great day.
“My birthday came around, and fire rescue came to wish me a happy birthday, and no one else did,” he said.
The team brought Frickman a cake to celebrate his 101st birthday, but then they noticed that his carpet flooring was due for a much-needed renovation.
“We noticed the carpet right away and figured that if we could do something nice for him, maybe get him some carpet installed in his apartment, that would be a nice gesture,” said Pardo.
So the people at Dolphin Carpet & Tile, in partnership with WSVN, answered the call and gifted the elderly man something that, he said, he could never have afforded, especially living by himself.
7News cameras captured crews removing his old carpet and installing a fresh, clean carpet across his apartment.
Pardo said Frickman’s dedication and patriotism to his country warms his heart as he is also a veteran.
“Just being a veteran myself, and guys on my crew are veterans also, so that whole aspect of it and knowing what he did for this country,” he said.
7News cameras captured Frickman overwhelmed with joy when he saw his new flooring.
“Oh, yeah. Oh, my! Beautiful. It’s absolutely fantastic. Just, well, it’s like I’m reborn! I just took like five or 10 years off my life,” he said.
And on the topic of his age, he told 7News the secret to a long life is to think young.
“You deal only with young people,” he said.
Frickman added that now with his new carpet, he considers himself a fresh 96-year-old man.
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