RUMFORD — Two local police officers will be recognized Friday for their actions in saving the life of a female driver they found unresponsive on Route 2 in September 2014.
Police Chief Stacy Carter nominated Sgt. James Bernard and Cpl. Lawrence Winson to receive lifesaving awards from the Maine Chiefs of Police Association in Portland.
At the Maine Association of Police union banquet on Jan. 31 in Portland, Bernard received a lifesaving award for the incident. He was nominated by then-Rumford police union President Tracey Higley, current Rumford police union President Brad Gallant said Tuesday.
Bob Schwartz, president of the MCOPA, said Tuesday afternoon from Portland that the lifesaving awards would be presented at the winter meeting Friday.
Schwartz said that on Sept. 8, 2014, Sgt. Bernard was dispatched to Route 2 for an open 911 line “and what sounded to the communications center like a female out of breath. A horn could be heard in the background.”
Schwartz said that on arrival, Bernard found a parked vehicle.
“On the ground near this vehicle, he observed a partially-clothed female who was in some sort of respiratory distress,” he said. “She didn’t seem to be breathing. Her skin was turning purple and she was not responsive.”
He said Bernard quickly placed the woman flat on her back, established an airway and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Winson arrived with an automated external defibrillator.
But Schwartz said the defibrillator indicated that no shock was required, so Bernard and Winson continued CPR until Med-Care Ambulance arrived to take over the resuscitation work and get the woman to a hospital.
“The actions taken by Sgt. Bernard and Cpl. Winson contributed directly to the victim’s survival of this medical emergency,” Schwartz said.
“And the following day, the emergency room doctor contacted Chief Carter to compliment their response and to affirm that without their actions, the female would not have survived.”
Bernard and Winson were unavailable for comment Tuesday.
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