Officers with the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office are generally the first responders on the scene of an emergency. That’s why officials think it’s important for the staff to go through CPR and First Aid recertification training on a regular basis.
“Due to the large number of officers we have, we generally have CPR/First Aid instructors from outside our agency help us to make sure everything runs as smoothly and efficiently as possible,” said Lt. Juan Martinez, training instructor.
Two instructors who helped with recent training sessions were Barbara Jones and Theresa Brown of Hamilton Medical Center.
As they conducted the training, the two women discovered that most of the county’s officers do not have face shields that they can carry with them conveniently while on duty. "Those officers would not have anything to protect them from bodily fluids, etc., if they had to give breaths to a patient while performing CPR," they said.
“This is something that could very well be required of them as we have all recently saw when an officer with the Dalton Police Department gave CPR to a child involved in a wreck on the Bypass not long ago,” Lt. Martinez said.
Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Brown decided to take matters into their own hands and purchased every one of the officers a portable face shield that can be carried conveniently on their key chains. They also gave the officers some candies for Valentine’s Day and distributed Valentine cards made by students from some of the local schools, including Park Creek.
“What Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Brown gave our officers is a huge gift solely out of the kindness of their hearts,” Lt. Martinez said. “We really appreciate their kind act.”
All 56 officers from the Uniform Patrol Division and 76 officers from the Detention Division participated in the training, and all received the face shields from the two instructors.
The Court Services and Criminal Investigation Divisions will receive the training later this year as well.