Metro's Mohammad Abuakar Featured in Super Bowl Video
by Matt Lo Cascio
Super Bowl Sunday was a big day for Mohammad Abuakar, a Metro Paramedics employee assigned to the City of Wheaton Fire Department. Abuakar was featured in Essential, a tribute video to essential workers that aired on the CBS Super Bowl Pregame Show.
Shot at Wheaton Fire Department’s Station 39, Abuakar is the first person featured in the video, which heralds the work and determination of EMS workers, postal workers, grocery store employees, and other essential workers who continued to work through the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I was in the EMS room at CDH when the segment aired, and it was so strange to go from restocking from my last call to suddenly seeing myself on national television,” Abuakar said. “Not only that but to be the very first person to open the segment was unexpected. It was an incredible honor.”
Friends, family, and colleagues were all excited to see the segment. Abuakar appreciated the chance to be in the video and promote EMS.
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I’m honored to have been able to not only represent myself and the Wheaton Fire Department but to represent EMS/Fire across the nation for this segment. My phone and my social media were being flooded with support, and I could not be more grateful to have such wonderful people in my life.”
It’s very apparent from the video that Abuakar loves his job, and he said he loves working for Wheaton Fire and Metro Paramedics.
“This department is comprised of some of the most incredible people I have ever met and it starts from the top. My colleagues, both current and former, have become my family. They have been my biggest supporters. They are the men and women I turn to first to learn something new, to better myself, and to move past difficult times. It is because of them that I was able to find success in what I do.”
Here is the Super Bowl Sunday segment featuring Mohammad Abuakar: Essential.
“At the end of the day, I don’t want to be a hero,” Abuakar says in the video. “I just want to be able to do my job and care for my patients.”
Thank you, Mohammad, for being such a great ambassador for EMS, Metro Paramedics, and the Wheaton Fire Department. To ALL of the essential workers: thank you for your service!
