As the longtime companion of Jeremy Emerich, Shana Konek has been overwhelmed with support rising from the goodwill he’d built up with a lifetime of service.
“Where do you begin?” she said Saturday when asked to recall what stands out about Emerich. She had to pause to respond to a message, another person reaching out in her time of grief.
Emerich died Thursday at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Salisbury Township, after a monthlong battle with COVID-19.
He was 40 years old, a critical care EMT on the ground for the hospital network’s Medevac and, near his home in Berks County, a career officer with the Exeter Township Fire Department and a volunteer with the Fleetwood Fire Co. and Bally Community Ambulance.
Emerich was also a veteran, having joined the Pennsylvania National Guard four months shy of his 18th birthday. He served for 13 years, including tours in Iraq and Germany to provide security for U.S. Army explosives teams, and was discharged in 2010 as a sergeant.
His obituary is scheduled to be published on Memorial Day, through Bean Funeral Homes.
“Very kind-hearted, very family oriented, would give the shirt off his back to anybody, was always helping out in the public, finding out whatever way he could help,” Konek said Saturday of Emerich. “Even with his friends and stuff, he was always there and willing to lend a hand.”
Jeremy Emerich worked as a critical care EMT on the ground for Lehigh Valley Health Network's MedEvac, and was a firefighter and ambulance volunteer in Berks County where he lived. He died May 21, 2020, following a monthlong battle with COVID-19.Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com
“That’s who he was,” his sister, Melanie Emerich, told The Reading Eagle. “If Jeremy could help somebody, that’s what he did.”
Jeremy Emerich fell ill around April 21, 11 days after his younger brother, Liborio Lara, died from the coronavirus illness. Lara was 30 years old, and Berks County’s youngest person to have died from COVID-19, WFMZ-TV 69 reports.
When Emerich spiked a fever April 25, Konek took him to the hospital. The two were able to talk until he was put on a ventilator.
"I was able to be bedside for his passing. The staff there was phenomenal working with him when he was in the ICU," said Konek, who has been with Emerich for nearly eight years. The two lived together in Fleetwood.
Emerich was healthy, aside from high blood pressure and allergies, his sister told The Reading Eagle.
A shadow box made by Jeremy Emerich's longtime companion, Shana Konek, features a collection of military memorabilia from his 13-year enlistment with the Pennsylvania National Guard. Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com
Among his survivors are two sons, Zach and Collin, and a daughter, Cara. Zach Emerich is serving with the U.S. Army at Fort Hood, Texas, and returned home Wednesday. He got to talk to his father via phone.
"Jeremy couldn't answer him," Konek said. "He spoke to his father and told him he loved him."
Twelve hours later, Jeremy Emerich was gone.
Emergency responders lined stretches of the route from the hospital to the funeral home to pay their respects as a procession carried his remains on Thursday. Medevac flew overhead.
Services for the family are scheduled for this Thursday morning, and are slated to be live-streamed by the funeral home at 11 a.m. from the cemetery.
Pennsylvania has had 66,983 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and 5,096 people have died.
A gofundme.com account is set up to help with Emerich’s medical expenses related to his hospitalization.
Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com.
Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com.