Emergency responders honored for life-saving calls
BROKEN BOW - The City of Broken Bow honored ten emergency responders at the Sept. 22 City Council meeting for saving two lives during two separate 911 calls in June 2020.
Eight individuals received acknowledgment of saving a life on June 14. Those individuals are Ahren Finney, Broken Bow Police Sgt. Shane Fiorelli, Emergency Services Director Andrew Holland, Kasey Woodliff-Finney, Renee Sommers, Lawrence Stump, BBPD Officer Cobie Kassidy and Jeremy Daugherty.
Four individuals received acknowledgment for saving a life on June 26. Those individuals are Cody Neville, Lacey Fiorelli, Kacey Woodliff-Finney and Jeremy Daugherty.
For each life-saving call, each person received a life-saving pin and a certificate.
In presenting the awards, City Administrator Dan Knoell said, “Our emergency personnel are specially trained and certified to administer basic life saving techniques,” he said. “Sometimes the victim may not have a pulse.”
That was the case with the two calls on June 14 and June 26. Emergency responders administrated life-saving methods including CPR and defibrillators until the victims regained normal heart beat and then maintained care until the victim arrived at the emergency room.
Mayor Ron Sonnichsen said the emergency volunteers are doing a critical job for their fellow citizens. “We should feel so proud to be a member of Broken Bow knowing that there are educated and professional volunteers who have the skill to respond to any type of emergency of distress and save a life 24/7,” Sonnichsen said. “I commend this entire team for what they do. The employers of these heroes should be equally proud!”
Andy Holland, Emergency Services Director, also thanked the emergency responders as he took to the podium to report on ambulance statistics. “I want to say thank you to all the volunteers,” he said. “It means a lot.”
See photos of the presentations on page A7.
Ambulance statistics
Holland reported to the council that there have been 247 ambulance calls for Broken Bow since Jan. 1, 2020. There were 343 calls for the 2019-2020 budget year.
Of the 247 calls, 80 percent (197) were within the City of Broken Bow; 18 percent (45) were in the Broken Bow area and the remaining two percent (5) were to Berwyn, Anselmo, Ansley and Arnold/SORC.
Weekends are the days with the highest calls with 44 calls coming on Sundays, 40 on Saturdays and 42 on Fridays. Tuesday is the day with the fewest calls at 26. The other days of the week are Monday 33, Wednesday 34 and Thursday 28.
The times of the day when most calls come in are 6-6:59 p.m. and 8-8:59 p.m., both hours with 7.32 percent (18). The hour of 11-11:59 a.m. followed closely with 6.91 percent (17 calls).
Every hour of the 24-hour clock had calls recorded with the hours of 4-4:59 a.m., 5-5:59 a.m. and 10-10:59 p.m. each having the lowest numbers, 1.63 percent (4 calls) since the first of the year.
Holland reported that for 65.85 percent of the calls, the destination for the patient was Melham Medical Center. For the remainder of the calls, the destination was Callaway District Hospital, hospitals in Kearney and Grand Island and other locations.
Of the calls, 80.08 percent were 911 calls (197) with the remaining calls being standby, medical transport, inter-facility transport or public assistance.
Broken Bow’s newest ambulance went out on 221 calls since the first of the year with the backup, older ambulance being used for 25 calls.