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'He Just Loved Doing His Job': EMT Dies After Month-Long Battle With COVID-19

PASADENA (CBSLA) — Family, friends and coworkers Thursday were mourning the death of a local emergency medical technician who died after contracting COVID-19.

Aldo Iniguez
EMT Aldo Iniguez, 32, died one week ago after a month-long battle with COVID-19. (Source: GoFundMe)

Flags were at half staff outside of the Care Ambulance Service facility in Orange for 32-year-old Aldo Iniguez, an EMT who died one week ago after a month-long battle with the illness.

"He worked in our Altadena Station," Brendan Wylie, a coworker, said. "He was known by his peers as a guy who just loved working for Care Ambulance, loved working in EMS."

Wylie and Justin Wall, another coworker, said they would be wearing black mourning bands over their badges for the rest of the month in honor of their friend.

"Whenever we'd come across him, he was always extremely nice, always in a good mood," Wall, who was hired on at the same time as Iniguez in 2013, said. "He was very approachable, he was just a good guy. He just loved doing this job."

Care Ambulance Service posted a message on social media announcing the EMT's death.

"Aldo loved his job, his partners, and his patients, and will be deeply missed by many," it read.

The company said Iniguez never gave up and fought fiercely up until the last minute, according to family members.

"We all hear about this COVID, and how we're supposed to attack, and how we're supposed to treat it and how we're supposed to deal with the public," Wall said. "Then it hits one of us."

Iniguez is among the dozens of healthcare workers on the front lines of the pandemic in Los Angeles County who have lost their lives to the virus, though the International Association of EMTs and Paramedics said his death was the union's first from COVID-19.

"It's an invisible threat right now," Wall said.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to raise money for Iniguez's family, stating that he "made the ultimate sacrifice while doing the job he loved."

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