If not for the COVID-19 pandemic, Grace Moclair would have started a summer internship at Disney World last month. Instead, the 20-year-old, Rhode Island-raised Wiscasset woman was working at Monkey C Monkey Do Wednesday afternoon when a customer had a medical emergency on the course. According to multiple interviews, Moclair, co-worker and Edgecomb junior firefighter Ryan Potter, and a customer who is a nurse helped get the woman to Wiscasset responders.

Moclair, a University of Massachusetts-Lowell junior this fall studying mechanical engineering, said she and Potter climbed out to a platform to the other customer and to the woman having the emergency. Potter, 16 and a Wiscasset Middle High School senior this fall, said he protected the woman from hitting her head. Moclair, interviewed separately, said,  “She gained consciousness and so we hooked her up to a cable and we got her through the element she had already gone through” before having the emergency.

“We attached her tethers to the element cable and we also attached a zip trolley to give her more stability and have her move smoothly. From there I guided her as Ryan followed from behind over the element to the first deck. I held her harness and told her to focus on my feet moving and to mimic me. Once we got to first deck,that is where the medics met us and put her into a wheelchair to get her to the ambulance.”

“It was a big team effort,” Moclair said, including the other customer and the woman being helped, who Moclair said was very brave. “It was a scary situation, but I’m glad everything was OK.”

Wiscasset Police Chief Larry Hesseltine said Wiscasset Ambulance Service and Wiscasset Fire Department responded to the call, about 2 p.m. Wiscasset Fire Chief Rob Bickford told Wiscasset Newspaper, “We responded to assist Wiscasset EMS with a patient ... reportedly having a seizure. When we arrived, the patient was on a platform approximately 10 feet off the ground. Employees were attempting to lower her down via her body harness but due to her confused state, that was not possible. She was able to walk with assistance to a larger platform where EMS could assess her and take over her care. None of our members ever left the ground.”

What did Bickford think of the help the business’s staff provided? “I thought they did a great job.”

Moclair said she, in front, and Potter, behind, held the woman up as she walked.

Potter’s and Moclair’s parents were proud Wednesday night. “I can’t be prouder,” Potter’s father, Edgecomb Fire Chief Roy Potter said. Ryan Potter turns 17 next month, has finished his basic firefighting class and is nearing completion of his emergency medical technician (EMT) course. “He’s just a go-getter,” his father said.

Moclair has always been a “take charge kind of person,” her mother Jennifer Moclair said. “She wants to be helpful. So I’m really proud of her but I’m not surprised” she was able to help the woman, Moclair said. She was at work at Big Al’s when Monkey C Monkey Do owner Roland Lacombe stopped in and told her what happened, including what a great job her daughter did. 

Grace Moclair said Lacombe was below them giving instructions that helped. 

Lacombe said he was extremely proud of his staff members. He added, he was mostly observing; they did the work. “That’s what we train for ... so when this type of thing happens, it’s unfortunate, but that’s what we do,” usually for someone “running out of steam” or becoming dehydrated, he said. He estimated this was the second seizure on the course in four or five years.

Moclair and Potter “needed very little direction,” Lacombe said.

The business is fortunate to attract great kids to hire and they work well together, like they did that day, Lacombe said. 

Wiscasset Newspaper heard about the rescue from Big Al’s employee Chris Davis. “I’m just in awe. I’ve got goosebumps, to see our youth behave with such responsibility and dignity. People were in here talking about it” and she thought those involved needed to be recognized, Davis said.