State employee's tax call saves man's life

They say death and taxes are inevitable. But in the case of Earl Phillips, taxes may have helped save the Adair County man's life. When Phillips called the state Department of Revenue last month to get answers about his state income tax bill, the faceless Frankfort bureaucrat who called him back saved his life. Now Phillips thinks Department of Revenue employee Natalie Brown — who dialed 911 when Phillips had a heart attack during that May 26th phone call — should receive more than a simple thank you. "I'm very proud of that lady," Phillips said. "She saved my life. As far as I'm concerned, there is no end to what she deserves."

Phillips, an Adair County construction worker, received a tax notice in late May with Brown's name and phone number. When Brown returned the call he'd placed, she noticed that Phillips, 60, seemed out of sorts. "I noticed he was breathing really heavily," Brown said. "I could tell something was wrong." Brown, 23, asked Phillips if he was OK. But Phillips told Brown he wasn't sure what was wrong.



Phillips said he didn't want to tell a complete stranger on the sixth floor of a Frankfort office building hundreds of miles away that he needed help. He had never really been sick before and had no history of heart problems, he said. He was hoping that whatever was wrong with him would pass. It didn't. "I didn't know what to say to her," Phillips said. "At the same time, I did need help." Phillips' breathing seemed to get worse as minutes ticked by, Brown said.

So Brown verified she had the correct address for Phillips — which was on his tax forms — and called Adair County 911. Shortly after that, emergency crews arrived and took Phillips, who was home alone, to a local hospital. He was later transferred to a Louisville hospital, where doctors put a stent, or tube, in his heart. He had a 90 percent blockage in one of his arteries, Phillips said. Brown, meanwhile, spent the next several days worried about Phillips. She left a message on his phone. About a week later, Phillips called Brown to thank her and tell her that he was OK. Phillips says he is now on medication, and feels much better. But he still can't believe Brown didn't hang up on him. "Ninety percent of people nowadays would have left me on my own," Phillips said.