Performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation takes a level head and some technique. The patient is in distress; pressure is high. Decisions must be quick. Imagine having to do all that over the phone, for a patient miles away.
Cortland County emergency dispatcher Devin Short will be honored Wednesday for doing just that.
The story, according to Cortland fire officials: A woman living in Cortland’s sixth ward dialed 911 on Dec. 13, telling dispatchers she feared she was having a heart attack. Short was on the call, and began reassuring the woman even as he dispatched emergency responders.
He realized the heart attack was real and the patient’s condition had become unstable. Within 58 seconds, he had dispatched additional firefighters and medics from TLC Emergency Medical Services to the woman’s home.
“That was a crucial update,” said Timothy Hines, the county’s assistant director for emergency response and communications, because responding units upgraded their response.
“The dispatcher started resuscitation efforts over the phone with pre-arrival instructions,” Cortland Fire Chief Wayne Friedman said. Firefighters arrived, and with a Cortland police officer, continued CPR and used an automated external defibrillator.
Short had been on the job for about nine months, although he had been a 911 dispatcher in Raleigh, North Carolina. Short, who lives in Cortland with his fiancee, had also worked for AMR of Central New York, which provides emergency medical services and transports patients to hospitals.
The woman was conscious when medics reached the hospital.. And on Wednesday, at a ceremony at the Cortland fire station on Court Street, she and Short get to meet in person.
