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Worcester paramedic bitten by heroin addict to be memorialized in D.C.

WORCESTER, Mass. — A paramedic from Worcester will be honored next week in Washington D.C. when his name is added to the national EMS memorial.

More than a hundred cyclists from around the country arrived at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Worcester Saturday afternoon at the end of day one of their journey from Boston to Arlington, Virginia.

Members of the Worcester EMS out of the UMass Memorial Medical Center are riding to honor John Lynch.

Lynch was a passionate paramedic dedicated to teaching new members. He died at 60 years old from complications ions from Hepatitis C.

He contracted the disease when he was bitten by a heroin addict whose life he was trying to save.

Many of his colleagues are making the trip by cycling the whole way there – 550 miles over 7 days – to honor fallen EMS members.

“We spend the days riding the miles, thinking about our friends,” Marlea Bergeson said. “We don’t get that a lot in EMS, we don’t get a whole lot of recognition, police and fire get a lot, EMS is kind of understated in that we try to let them know, we are thinking about you – you are not forgotten.”

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