Schielke wins inaugural Golden Hour Award for life-saving trauma care

Merrill firefighter/paramedic Dylan Schielke has been recognized with a first-of-its-kind award for his role in stabilizing a critically injured local man following an ATV accident last summer.
Schielke received the Golden Hour Award during Aspirus Wausau Hospital’s inaugural Trauma Survivors Day ceremony on May 8, 2026. The award recognizes exemplary EMS performance in high-acuity, time-critical trauma care.
The story behind the award began July 2, 2025, when Merrill resident Brian Brendemuehl was seriously injured in an ATV accident near his Pine River home. Schielke served as the lead paramedic on the call, providing pre-hospital care before Brendemuehl was transferred to an Aspirus MedEvac helicopter.
MedEvac Critical Care Flight Paramedic Michelle Micke was part of that flight crew and witnessed Schielke’s work firsthand.
Months later, when Aspirus began accepting nominations for the new award, she put his name forward.

“Dylan was on scene and had the patient intubated, fluids going, full report and assessment for flight crew,” Micke said. “I truly believe that if he wouldn’t have stabilized the patient right away, the patient would not be alive or at least neurologically intact now. His assessment was spot on and complete.”
Winning the award came as a surprise to Schielke, who had expected he was attending the ceremony simply to meet Brendemuehl.
Brendemuehl and many other survivors of major traumatic injuries from the past several years shared their stories during the event.
That meeting carried its own significance — it marked the first time Schielke, Micke, and Brendemuehl had seen each other since the night of the accident.
The Merrill Fire Department thanked Aspirus Wausau Hospital for the ceremony and Brendemuehl for allowing his story to be shared, and noted that Schielke’s performance reflects the department’s core values and shines a positive light on the work of the whole Lincoln County–Merrill Ambulance Service.