Prison officers' quick actionsaves life of inmate
The quick work of four corrections officers at the Butler County Prison saved the life of an inmate who went into cardiac arrest on the night before Thanksgiving.
Capt. Dave Winters, Sgt. Tyler Tracey, Officer Todd Walker and Officer Matt Edgar did CPR and used an automated external defibrillator, AED, to revive the inmate shortly after 6 p.m. on Nov. 25.
The male inmate, who prison officials would not identify, had just come to the prison on Nov. 23 and was being housed in the classification pod.
Officers called for a code blue — the code designating a medical emergency. Officers opened the cell, removed the inmate’s cellmate and waited for the prison’s medical staff.
Two prison nurses, Sheila Stovar and Ashli Hollobaugh, arrived soon and began to check the inmate’s vital signs.
Shortly after that, Winters and Tracey noticed that the inmate had stopped breathing.
The officers began to do CPR. Winters, Tracey and Walker traded-off on doing compressions while Edgar did the breathing.
During the CPR, officers used an AED device three times.
The CPR went on for 15 minutes until firefighters from the Butler Fire Department arrived. About that time, staff members were able to find a pulse.
The inmate, who is in his early 30s, was taken to Butler Memorial Hospital by Butler Ambulance Service.
Warden Joe DeMore said situations like this are rare, and praised the staff members for using their training and jumping into action right away.
“It just reflects on how professional (the staff and training are),” DeMore said.
Edgar said code blue calls happen all the time at the prison, but they rarely are this serious.
