Eighteen honored for response on cardiac calls

Alan Wooten, Bladen Journal, Elizabethtown, N.C.
·2 min read

Feb. 14—ELIZABETHTOWN — Eighteen first responders in Bladen County have been honored for their dedication and service in two cardiac arrest calls.

The honors were through Zoll, a Chelmsford, Massachusetts-based company that develops and markets medical devices and software solutions. Bladen County EMS has the company's monitors on all of its ambulances, and Zoll "recognizes cardiac arrest saves and gives first responder crews involved challenge coins and certifications for the save," a release from Emergency Services Director Nathan Dowless says.

Those honored for their involvement in a Jan. 24 cardiac arrest at White Lake were Mary Beth Britt, Dustin Bryant, April Dorsett, Victoria Young, Nicholas Evans, Corey Alambis, Dale Brennan, Megan Atkinson, Wiley Autry, Thomas Gillard, Donnie Moore, Lee Reason, Joe Ramsey and Timothy Hester.

Britt is a captain with Bladen County EMS, and along with Bryant and Dorsett an EMT-paramedic. Young and Evans are EMTs. Alambis is a dispatcher at the Bladen County Sheriff's Office. Brennan is the chief of White Lake Volunteer Fire Department, and Atkinson, Autry, Gillard, Moore, Reason and Ramsey are members. Hester is with the White Lake Police Department.

Those honored for their involvement in a Jan. 29 call, when a patient experienced chest pain, were Karlie Hill, Joshua Babson, Penny Britt and Kim Jones. Hill is an EMT-paramedic and Babson an EMT. Britt and Jones are dispatchers at the Sheriff's Office.

"This is what it is all about, to have many different agencies working together to help one another, to provide the best care possible for the citizens of Bladen County," Dowless said. "We are a blessed county to have so many caring and skilled first responders."

Making the presentation of awards were Jamie Rivera, a captain in Bladen County EMS; Heather Ellis, a training officer with Bladen County EMS; David Howell, director of Bladen County EMS; and Andrea Jannarone of Zoll.

Charles Ray Peterson, chairman of the county commissioners, thanked the group and presented each of the 18 with a Bladen County Challenge Coin.

Alan Wooten can be reached at 910-247-9132 or awooten@bladenjournal.com. Twitter: @alanwooten19.