Eglin captains help save a life

  • Published
  • By Chrissy Cuttita
  • Team Eglin Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Most days it's hard to get away for a much-needed coffee break in the morning, but for three Eglin captains, the coffee run on June 25 was a life-saver.

Captains Joe Perez and Andreas Flowers, from the 33rd Fighter Wing, were getting coffee at the Exchange when a store customer screamed for help.

"Her mother was convulsing and violently flailing around," said Flowers. "A commotion began. I screamed out to the food court for a medic and used Capt. Perez's phone to speak with a 911 dispatcher."

Instantly, another captain who happened to be at the exchange, and Perez performed self-aid and buddy care to help the woman. Also, employees at the food court cleared furniture and helped create a cordon.

"While describing the woman's condition and taking instructions from the 911 dispatcher, I was also assisting food court staff members in removing curious on-lookers from the scene," said Flowers.

Base emergency procedures are familiar to Eglin personnel, who exercise them often in preparation for a day like this one.

"By doing what they did, they made sure she wouldn't aspirate if she had food or coffee in her lungs," said Lieutenant Mark Merrill, Eglin's fire department first responder on the scene. "Their actions prevented the situation from getting worse."

The captains said a staff sergeant also joined them in going through what they learned at SABC like asking if the woman was taking medication to get an idea of what could be happening.

"By the time emergency medical services arrived, Perez and others had the woman stabilized and she regained limited responsiveness," said Flowers.

They knew from their training they needed to get the woman placed in a specific recovery position on her side and collect information emergency responders would need.

Merrill acknowledged they did the right thing, but it's not something anyone standing in the coffee shop line could do. Only persons with training like SABC should attempt to resuscitate a person who needs medical attention.