KCSO employees honored with Lifesaving Awards
<p>From left are Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office Emergency Communications Officer Ellie Creighton, Sheriff Ben Wolfinger, Deputy Brice LaBelle and Deputy Erik Hedlund. Creighton, LaBelle and Hedlund were recently presented Lifesaving Awards.</p>
Three Kootenai County Sheriff's Office employees have been honored with Lifesaving Awards.
On Jan. 2 at 6 p.m. Emergency Communication Officer Ellie Creighton received a 911 call from a frantic and distraught mother screaming that her son was dead, according to the KCSO.
Creighton provided a voice of reason to the incident by calmly coaxing the mother into performing CPR. After a few seconds, the mother began to respond to Ellie's calm instruction by performing chest compressions while Creighton counted out loud keeping the tempo.
A few days later, the mother called Creighton's supervisor and expressed her gratitude. The mother said that her son had died twice, but due to the actions of Creighton, her son is alive today.
On Jan. 28 at 1:04 a.m., Deputy Brice LaBelle and Deputy Erik Hedlund responded to a call for a 78-year-old unconscious female, according to the KCSO.
At 1:07 a.m., LaBelle arrived and found the female's son on scene stating he attempted CPR but was too exhausted and out of breath to continue.
After LaBelle assessed the situation, he performed compression-only CPR.
At 1:09 a.m., Hedlund arrived on scene and, after assisting LaBelle, took over the CPR compressions while a Northern Lakes Fire District unit was assessing the female's condition.
A short time later, the medic unit took over CPR and, after performing lifesaving procedures, it advised the female had a heartbeat and was breathing.
After being transported to Kootenai Health, the female did surprisingly well and survived. Nurses at the hospital told deputies they did a great job and, if not for their efforts, the female would not have survived, KCSO officials said.