Following his father’s footsteps into Emergency Medicine, Dr. Slimmer wanted to make a difference in someone’s life

“The patient’s brother – also a Marine veteran – stood still and stoic, but the pain in his eyes was unbearable,” explained Dr. Samuel Slimmer, emergency medicine physician. “I had to excuse myself from the room.” Just minutes earlier, Dr. Slimmer lost a 30-year-old patient – someone’s son, brother and a former Marine – to the clutches of heroin.  The overdose patient, found by the patient’s father, was unconscious and in cardiac arrest by the time he reached Dr. Slimmer. “When a patient comes through our doors, my job is to do everything I can. And I did, but it just wasn’t enough,” Dr. Slimmer said, sadly shaking his head. “I wish we could have saved him.” Born and raised in Schuylkill County, Dr. Slimmer followed his father’s footsteps into Emergency Medicine – wanting to help people as well. “It’s about making a big difference in someone’s life and making it quick. But the other part is just being human and comforting families – and sometimes that means feeling their pain and crying along with them.”
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