10/21/2011 - Commendation for Life-Saving

Incident # 11-05533 – Firefighter-Paramedic Steve Sanders was awarded a “Commendation for Life-Saving” Friday 21-October at Headquarters. On Wednesday evening 12-October, Sanders was off-duty when Medic 18 and Station # 7 were dispatched to an unconscious person on Berea Road in rural north-western Colleton County. The incident was upgraded to an apnea response shortly after it was dispatched. The dispatcher explained the patient had been choking on food. Sanders responded in his POV from his home in Smoaks arriving several minutes before Medic 18. He found the patient unconscious and not breathing. Sanders was able to use a laryngoscope to visualize a piece of food blocking the woman’s airway. After he removed the food, he inserted an OPA and began ventilating the patient. When Medic 18 arrived the patient was making attempts to breathe on her own. While enroute the hospital the OPA had to be removed and the patient was awake and talking on arrival at the Emergency Department 34 minutes later. Without his quick response, the outcome would have been very different. For his actions, during this off-duty response, Sanders was given a “Commendation for Life-Saving”.