FIRST RESPONDER TRAINING SAVES LIFE

 By Sr. Agent Richard Purvis

In April and May of this year, Wildlife Agents throughout the state were sent to Baton Rouge to be trained as medical "First Responders". Agents, upon completion of the class, became certified in a wide variety of emergency medical techniques and the operation of several medical devices. We are one of only a few law enforcement agencies nation-wide to have 100% of their field personal trained to this level.

On June 28, a Region 9 Agent put his training to the test. Sr. Agent Davis Madere was going on patrol on Lake Des Allemands when he came upon an accident at the intersection of Hwy 61 and Hwy 641 in Gramercy. Apparently, a Suburban or an eighteen-wheeler had run a stop sign and resulted in the suburban being "T-boned" by the eighteen-wheeler. Sr. Agent Madere quickly responded by notifying the Sheriff's office and then proceeded to help any injured passengers.

Inside the suburban, Sr. Agent Madere found three victims. One was already dead, one was barely clinging to life, and the third had a pulse, but was not breathing. The third victim was slumped over a beam that closed off his airway. Sr. Agent Madere then repositioned the victim's head as he was taught at the "First Responder" class. The victim then began to breathe on his on. Since the subject was unconscious, he had to manually maintain the open airway until help arrived.

When the ambulance crew and fire fighters arrived, Sr. Agent Madere volunteered to stay with this victim. He manually maintained good spinal alignment and an open airway while the fire fighters cut the victim out of the vehicle. They literally had to cut the victim out around him.

When the victim could be removed, Sr. Agent Madere assisted in the removal, and help strap the victim to a rigid backboard. During this process, the victim stopped breathing. Again, Sr. Agent Madere responded by using a bag-mask-resuscitator, and began giving the victim rescue breathing until he began breathing on his own.

Had it not been for Sr. Agent Madere's training and quick response, this victim would have died within a few moments after the accident. Instead, he could be rescued and transported to the hospital for more advanced life saving care.