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Tom Joyce, training captain with Orange County Fire and EMS, demonstrates an AED Richardson |
On Feb. 17, an hour into his shift on his first day of work as a Town of Orange police officer, David Richardson heard a radio call that a man was unconscious and not breathing.
When Richardson arrived at the scene, he found retired Judge Lloyd Sullenberger unresponsive. Richardson performed CPR until the Orange County Rescue Squad arrived.
The judge was flown to the University of Virginia Medical Center. He passed away the next day.
"Officer Richardson brought Judge Sullenberger back to life," said Orange Police Chief Jim Fenwick. "He was breathing and had a pulse and was able to be taken to the hospital for advanced medical care."
Richardson, an experienced officer from Northumberland County, had used CPR only once before in his career, but his knowledge of the life-saving chest compressions and assisted breathing would continue to be useful.
In April, Richardson responded to an accident on Madison Road, caused when the driver, Wylie Herndon, had a heart attack. Jamie Colvin, an employee of the nearby CVS, and a second person started CRP, which Richardson continued until the rescue squad arrived.
Herndon, a local surveyor, was flown to U.Va. hospital and survived.
Colvin, an off-duty firefighter, received a Police Commendation Award for his lifesaving efforts.
On May 23, Richardson's lifesaving skills would be called upon again, this time to restart the heart of Mae Miller, who had fallen in a courtyard near her home and was unconscious with no pulse. The efforts of Richardson and Orange County Rescue Squad members allowed Miller to be transported the U.Va. hospital where she died several days later, according to Fenwick.
"Over just a few months Officer Richardson was instrumental in giving three of our citizens the opportunity to receive advanced medical care," Fenwick said.
Richardson, who was called "heroic" by Fenwick, was given three lifesaving awards and a Meritorious Service Medal by the police department at a ceremony last month.
"I'm grateful, but I don't feel I need an award," Richardson said in an interview. "I was doing my job. Helping people is why I'm a police officer--and I can activate the blue lights and get there faster."
While Richardson considers performing CRP "part of the medical process," Tom Joyce wants to make sure there's even more help available in Orange County.
Joyce, training captain for Orange County Fire and Emergency Medical Services, took the opportunity at Colvin's and Richardson's award ceremony to announce a new collaboration between law enforcement agencies in the county.
As a result of a memorandum of understanding between Fire and EMS, the Sheriff's Office and the police departments in Orange and Gordonsville, the law enforcement agencies will be notified at the same time as fire and rescue squads of calls likely to involve cardiac arrest.
The Fire and EMS department will provide automated external defibrillators for all vehicles and will train law enforcement officers.
"This program is on the front end of what's being done nationally," Joyce said. "It's estimated that 250,000 people in the United States die from sudden cardiac arrest every year. Twenty-five percent of those people could have been saved if their hearts had been restarted in the first minutes after they went down.
"It's critical that the first person who gets to the victim can provide the help. Police officers are mobile all the time and they're often the first on the scene because they overhear the rescue calls. Now they will be notified directly that someone has collapsed."
The defibrillators deliver an electrical charge that can help reestablish a normal heart rate.
"All someone has to do is open the case, attach two sticky pads to the patient and turn the machine on. It will tell you what to do," Joyce said.
Last month Joyce trained Orange County employees who work in the Gordon Building and in the Visitors' Center at the depot on how to use AEDs.
Robin Knepper: 540/972-5701
Email: rknepper@earthlink.net
