(BEDFORD) – Four Bedford Police officers were given awards for saving two lives in separate incidents. The officers were given the awards at the Bedford Board of Works Meeting on Tuesday afternoon.
In the first incident Officer Max Uebulhoer responded to a medical call on November 8, 2019. The victim’s wife was giving CPR when Uebulhoer took over CPR and attached a defibrillator to shock the victim. Two minutes later the AED indicated to initiate another shock.
AMR ambulance crews then arrived and took over the care of the patient. The patient was taken to IU Health Bedford. Through social media, it was discovered that the victim woke up 2 days following the incident and fully recovered.
In another incident that occurred on October 1st, Captain Tim Chen, Officers Trevor Shelhart and Robert Looney responded to Rulers where a woman had fallen, turned blue and was laying on the ground with her head down.
Officers began CPR and attached a defibrillator and a shock was administered. The victim regained a pulse, and breathing was restored to the patient. IU Health Ambulance arrived and took over care of the patient.
The woman fully recovered from this medical incident.
“I am pleased with our law enforcement officers. Our officers now have different roles than before and have started responding to emergency medical incidents in our city. Our law enforcement officers are a huge asset to our community,” said Bedford Mayor Sam Craig.
“Our department keeps an AED at the police station and at least one defibrillator is kept in a police car every shift. If there is a medical emergency within the city that officers will respond to any heart-related emergency. If he is on another call, we try to free him immediately to respond to that incident,” said Bedford Police Chief Terry Moore.
An AED, otherwise known as an Automated External Defibrillator, is a portable device used to administer an electric shock to the heart and restore a heart’s normal rhythm during sudden cardiac arrest. It is estimated that 20 percent of police cars carry AED’s to improve response times to assist Sudden Cardiac Arrest victims.
