Florida Paramedic and Nurse Injured in Off-Duty Crash

After undergoing emergency surgery late last week, Dufferin County paramedic Jim Gordon is recovering in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a hospital in Fort Myers, Florida.

“He is still in ICU, but he is listed as stable,” Florida State Trooper Ken Watson told The Banner on Monday morning (Dec. 15).

His wife, Lori Gordon, a nurse at Headwaters Health Care Centre (HHCC) in Orangeville, is also listed as being in stable condition.

“We are very concerned for their wellbeing,” Tom Reid, chief of the Dufferin County Paramedic Service, said on Friday. “We’re under a lot of stress right now, hoping that Jim and Lori do well.”

According to Florida Highway Patrol, the Orangeville couple was riding their motorcycle on State Road 31 when an SUV pulled out in front of them from a nearby intersection.

Jim suffered critical injuries and Lori was seriously hurt in the crash. Of the four passengers in the SUV, the driver, Patricia Jordan, 64, of Lehigh Acres, suffered minor injuries.

Jordan has been charged for violating the right of way at the intersection, which is enforced by a stop sign.

“It looks like the vehicle that pulled out directly in front of them just never saw them, which unfortunately happens all the time with motorcycles,” Watson said. “It looks like that is what happened.”

Described by Reid as “major fundraisers for our community,” Lori and Jim have had played vital roles in the local health care community.

While Jim has served as a paramedic for Dufferin EMS for more than 25 years, Lori has been a nurse in the HHCC’s critical care unit for about three decades.

“She is part of the Headwaters family here,” Reid said of Lori. “She has cared for our community for years.”

Both Jim and Lori, members of the Orangeville Valley Riders (OVR) motorcycle cycle club, have also been integral in planning and organizing the Ride for Hospice. Since its inception, that event has raised more than $100,000 for the palliative care facility located in Orangeville.

“Big fundraisers, definitely raising all kinds of money. He is definitely an excellent person in the community,” Reid said of Jim, a former member of Hospice Dufferin’s board of directors. “Jim is a community person, a family man, one of those guys that would just do anything for anybody.”

After retiring about a year ago, the Orangeville couple had left for a vacation in Florida in November. They were planning to ride their motorcycle through the southern United States.

“This was their first time away after retiring,” Reid said, noting the Gordons’ family has arrived in Florida to be by Jim and Lori’s side.

“They are distraught,” he added. “It comes as a severe shock to them. They’re very concerned.”

Although Jim had retired as a paramedic about a year ago, he has been working for Dufferin EMS part-time ever since. Lori has been working part-time at the HHCC following her retirement as well.

“It is a very difficult time for us,” Reid said, adding the thoughts and prayers of his paramedics at the Dufferin EMS station in Orangeville are focused on Jim and Lori’s recovery. “(Jim) is definitely one of our senior people.”