Peter N. Frommer, Director
Aiken (SC) Department of Public Safety
When a stricken Aiken resident’s golfing buddies called Aiken (SC) Public Safety on their cell phones as he lay on the fairway, writhing with the excruciating and terrifying pain of a heart attack, he had only minutes to live. None of them knew then that the nearest ambulance was 20 miles and 40 minutes away – but lifesaving help was already near at hand, and coming fast. In less than three minutes an Aiken Public Safety Officer leapt from his patrol car armed with a defibrillator, an oxygen tank, and his training as a certified First Responder, able to restore the stopped heartbeat until the ambulance Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) arrived to transport him to the hospital.
Over the last two years this scene has been repeated several hundred times at Aiken tennis courts, shopping centers, restaurants, and swimming pools. Dozens of survivors and hundreds of their relatives now have a different level of respect and affection when they see these angels in police uniforms arrive on the scene.
Growing Problems – Innovative Solutions
As our city’s population rapidly grew, we, the Aiken Department of Public Safety leadership, became increasingly aware of the vulnerability of our residents. The department has a great relationship with the Aiken County ambulance service, knowing that their EMTs do the best they can to respond to emergency calls in an area that is 40-miles long and 25-miles wide. But at their peak staffing, there are only seven ambulance stations to cover this vast area.
More than a third of the county’s roughly 165,000 residents live either in the city of Aiken or in adjoining neighborhoods. While most of the city’s streets retain their nineteenth century charm, they weren’t designed for modern traffic. Red lights and sirens sometimes aren’t enough to speed ambulances through our town. Aiken’s increased traffic stems to some degree from its burgeoning retirement population, a boon to the city in many ways, but also the source of a significant increase in emergency calls for heart attacks, strokes, diabetic comas, and chokings. Visionary city leaders realized that while ambulances might be far away, they had a resource cruising through the very neighborhoods from where the calls for help were coming.
Aiken Public Safety Director Pete Frommer, with the backing of City Manager Roger LeDuc, Mayor Fred Cavanaugh, and City Council, made it a policy to have every sworn officer take – and pass – a 32-hour course for national certification as a First Responder. An additional eight hours were added for instruction in CPR and the use of the automated external defibrillator, and another four hours to learn the basics of blood borne pathogens. All certified officers must also pass annual refresher courses.
Most police officers have first aide training, but no other city in South Carolina requires that all patrol officers be nationally certified First Responders. In most cities the fire department or the rescue squad are the first to respond to emergency calls. But their personnel are waiting in a fire station. When they get the call they have to fire up the truck, roll open the big bay doors, and begin to proceed to the scene – often encountering traffic delays miles from the stricken citizen. When the call comes in to Aiken Public Safety our police officers are already nearby, patrolling neighborhoods and can arrive, on average, within three to five minutes, much more quickly than any other trained personnel.
The medical doctors who oversee our training tell us that a person’s recovery depends upon what happens during those first few minutes when their heart or breathing has stopped – the “Golden Minutes”– before they suffer brain damage or death. We think we owe it to our citizens to be there as fast as we can. We made the decision several years ago that our citizens deserve an extra level of protection when the next available ambulance might be many miles, and dozens of minutes, away. It’s just a matter of taking care of our own.
The measures our officers can take immediately at the scene that other cities’ officers who are trained only in first aide cannot, include administering cardiac shock with defibrillators that are carried in patrol cars, administer oxygen with a bag mask, and insert a Berman Airway device to restore breathing. We also carry blood pressure cups, stethoscopes, burn and trauma dressings, equipment to stop arterial bleeding, and most importantly, the advanced training to know what to do when we hold the life of one of our own people literally in our hands.
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City of Aiken Department of Public Safety First Responder Calls 2006 – 2007 |
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Life Threatening Calls Responded to: |
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2006 |
2007 |
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Allergic Reactions |
4 |
2 |
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Burns |
5 |
2 |
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Cardiac Arrest |
15 |
25 |
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Cardiac Dysrhythmia |
5 |
14 |
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Chest Pain |
83 |
89 |
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Diabetic |
22 |
33 |
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Bleeding |
11 |
21 |
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Poison |
8 |
13 |
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Pregnancy OB |
1 |
4 |
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Respiratory Arrest |
3 |
2 |
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Respiratory Distress |
62 |
121 |
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Seizures |
28 |
28 |
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Stroke |
0 |
10 |
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Blunt Trauma |
47 |
110 |
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AED used (Automated External Defibrillator) |
14 |
23 |
How Did We Do It and How Can You?
When a citizen calls 911 from within the city, the call comes into our dispatch center. If the person says they need an ambulance, the call is immediately routed to the county dispatchers. However, our dispatcher stays on the line, and if they determine it may be a life-or-death situation, or one in which acting quickly might save a life, they call the patrol officer nearest to the scene. If it is an emergency call for a heart attack, a stroke, respiratory difficulties, choking in a restaurant, backyard pool drowning, traffic accident, a serious fall, or construction accident, we respond immediately and are almost always the first on the scene.
Many people die while the ambulance that could have saved them is miles away. In those few precious minutes, our guys are there. Relatives and victims often tell us that the sight of that police car coming around the corner, and witnessing the officer respond immediately with a high level of training, were a great emotional relief because they knew there were only moments to spare in saving a life.
Just about any other municipality can do this. It takes a few thousand dollars for classroom training, roughly $3,300 per patrol car for the equipment, plus the commitment it takes to make sure your citizens are given the precious time they need.
Not Every Call is Life-or-Death
The total number of First Responder calls answered in 2006 was 483 and in 2007, 703. We know that only a few of them directly saved a life, but we believe that others may have, or may have prevented brain damage or other irreversible injury. We are quite sure that this capability has contributed greatly to the health and well-being of the people we are charged to protect. The Aiken Department of Public Safety provides police and fire service with 90 cross-trained sworn officers and 36 civilian employees. The Department has been CALEA Law Enforcement Accredited since 1998.
About
the Author:
Director Peter Frommer has been with the Aiken Department of Public Safety for his entire 36 year career in the public safety service, the last 10 years serving as the Director. He is a graduate of the University of South Carolina, a member of the FBINAA 191st Session, and has attended numerous sessions at the National Fire Academy in Emittsburg, Maryland.
