On the call to 911, a voice describes an emergency involving an infant.
She’s not breathing.
Emotion escalates. What can be done? How long before help arrives? Will she make it?
Among Bladen County’s trained elite, first responders act quickly. There’s a team, from the calm voice on the line of the 911 call to those responding to the dispatch.
Lawmen and paramedics who happen to be in or near Dublin will converge. Help arrives in less than two minutes.
The life of a child will be saved at Bladen County Hospital.
Each day is not like this. But response is important anytime the call goes out for law enforcement, medical rescue and firefighters.
Smithfield Foods is among those that recognizes that and fed Bladen County’s first responders on Wednesday. Steve Evans, director of community development, said it was a small gesture but one the company wanted to make to say thanks.
More than 100 came through and took part.
After dining, part of that team from the Jan. 23 call gathered around a table and shared their experience. Teamwork, they said, was pivotal in the success.
On that morning, Jasmine Collins is on the receiving end of the call in the 911 communications center of the Bladen County Sheriff’s Office. She stays on the line with the caller as the systemized choreography begins to play out. Penny Britt sees the information from the call developing on a screen in front of her and makes the dispatch.
Cpl. Jennifer Popynick is on patrol in the area of Twisted Hickory Apartments and first on the scene; 1st Sgt. Richard Allen is about to leave Bladen Community College where he was filling in for a colleague.
Paramedics Jamie Rivera and Kyle Meismer are in Tar Heel, but another truck is engaged in a call. They’re up and about to move toward Dublin, to be more centralized, when they hear Britt’s voice. Rivera said they were on the road in an instant.
Popynick arrives first.
“When I ran in, she had her on the couch and was doing compressions on her,” Allen said of Popynick performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Rivera and Meismer arrive the same time as Allen. Decisions are made quickly and decisively.
Two more minutes have passed. They’re working. Still no pulse. Get her to the hospital, and fast.
Howell, director of Emergency Medical Services, and Capt. Jason Bagwell, a paramedic, are pulling up, as is Cpl. Chad Britt of the Sheriff’s Office.
Allen would drive the ambulance. Bagwell and Popynick were in the truck with Rivera and Meismer. Howell and Britt would speed ahead to block intersections into Elizabethtown.
And there in the hospital that suffered so much damage from Hurricane Florence, a little girl’s pulse returns. She’s stabilized, then flown to New Hanover Regional Medical Center for further treatment.
“There was no confusion about who was going where,” Howell said. “They got on the scene, everything was done quickly. It was probably the fastest I’ve seen in a long time.”
And yet, not the common occurrence.
“Not like that,” Allen said.
“Not here in Bladen,” Rivera added.
“The Lord put us all there so close,” Allen said. “I wasn’t supposed to be at BCC working. I was filling in. I wasn’t even supposed to be there. Usually I’m at the office.”
But each was there.
And their training and their reason for doing what they do instinctively kicked in. Bladen Community College provided the bulk of that instruction, for Meisner last year, Allen in 2005, and Rivera in 2004-05. Howell earned degrees at Bladen and at Fayetteville Technical Community College.
“The early intervention by the deputy on scene — and these guys, that’s what made the difference in the hospital getting that young girl back,” Howell said.
Rivera agreed.
“CPR is so important,” she said. “It’s something I say all the time: Everybody should learn how to do it. It’s so simple to do, and it can actually help us, too. If we’re 10 minutes away, somebody starting CPR makes a difference if that patient is going to live or not. So early CPR is everything.”
Howell said that includes a child, a person of middle age or a senior citizen.
As Collins took the call, a little girl’s life was in danger.
What can be done? How long before help arrives? Will she make it?
The caller had no idea about what was driving those coming to the house.
“It’s my passion,” Rivera said. “I was put on this Earth to do it. I love what I do. I don’t want to do anything else. I love being a paramedic.”
“I like having the knowledge to take care of somebody that is sick, that needs help,” Meismer said.
Allen said he was “born to protect. That’s just in me. That’s just how it is. I can’t tell you why.”
Howell said for most of the first responders, to include 15 paramedics among a staff of 39 he oversees, it’s a desire to serve. He’s confident in all of them, especially proud for how well Meismer carries out his duties and how Rivera has so willingly shared her knowledge to help acclimate him to the job.
“They want to serve in some capacity, whether it is to protect, or care for the sick and injured,” he said.
Some days, the training from various years and places comes together in one location. Time moves quickly. Every second counts.
And emotion and tensions are going to rise.
“We all worked really well as a team,” Rivera said. “None of us could have done it by ourselves.”
Enjoying the lunch provided by Smithfield Foods were part of the Elizabethtown Police Department. From left are Chief Tony Parrish, Lt. Mark McMichael and Lt. Dwayne Cheshire.
Sheriff Jim McVicker (right) chats with Smithfield Foods’ Steve Evans and Rhonda Campbell on Wednesday at the Bladen County Emergency Services Training Center.
Part of the team of first responders that helped save the life of a young girl in Dublin on Jan. 23 were (from left) 1st Sgt. Richard Allen, paramedic Jamie Rivera, EMS Director David Howell and paramedic Kyle Meismer.