Autauga sheriff's deputies, rural schools get life-saving equipment
PRATTVILLE – Lifesaving equipment is going to rural schools in Autauga County and into the vehicles of Autauga County Sheriff’s Office deputies on patrol.
Sheriff Mark Harrell has purchased automatic external defibrillator devices and comprehensive trauma kits. The AEDs will go into patrol supervisor vehicles, the sheriff’s office in the courthouse, the courthouse and Autauga Metro Jail.
The trauma kits, along with AEDs will go into the five rural schools in the county; Autaugaville School, Billingsley School, Pine Level Elementary School, Marbury Middle School and Marbury High School. The sheriff’s office provides school resource officers to those locations.
“A lot of the times our deputies are the first on the scene,” the sheriff said. “And in the schools we are already there. There are places where response can take time, just because of the size of the county. This equipment will allow us to provide life-saving treatment while help is on the way from the volunteer fire departments and the ambulances.”
The AEDs are simple to use as a way to administer a shock to someone experiencing heart problems to return the heart to its normal rhythms. The trauma packs have on interactive touch screen with the outline of the human body. Touch the body image where the medical problem is and the machine tells you what supplies in the kit to use and how to use them.
Sudden cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death in the nation, claiming more than 300,000 lives a year, said Rob Williams, a spokesman for Go Rescue/Zoll, which makes the kits. If medical attention is delivered in the first 10 minutes after a cardiac episode, the chances of the person surviving are greatly improved, he said.
“The deputies are already on the road. If they can get there just two to three minutes earlier, it makes a difference,” he said.
The schools appreciate the equipment, said Superintendent Lyman Woodfin. Before being appointed schools chief, he was principal at Marbury High.
“Coming from Marbury, I can’t tell you how much better it makes us feel to have you on our campus,” he said of the SROs.
Money for the medical equipment comes from the sheriff’s office discretionary fund. The office is also issuing 40 lightweight tactical shields that are bullet resistant. Each deputy will have a shield in their vehicle. The shields were among the last pieces of equipment purchased by the late sheriff Joe Sedinger before his death.
“I am committed, just as he was, to doing what we can as sheriff to get the equipment needed in the hands of our sheriff deputies,” Harrell said. “This equipment may not only save the deputies; life but also the citizens of Autauga County.”
Harrell said he would like to have the funding to put AEDs and trauma kits in every deputy’s vehicle.
Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Marty Roney at mroney@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Autauga sheriff's deputies, rural schools get life-saving equipment
