Associate Jan/Feb 2014

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J A N 2 0 1 4 F E B

J A N 2 0 1 4 F E B

Law Enforcement Officers Issued Lifesaving Equipment

Law Enforcement Officers Issued Life Saving Equipment continued from page 20

Evans said, “I was thrilled to hear that SAGA was not just outfitting our cruisers, but all law enforcement first responders in the county. The more AED’s that are placed in the hands of law enforcement, the greater the chances that we can save the life of a person suffering from sudden cardiac arrest”. About the Author: Captain Mark K. Evans began his career in law enforcement as a Police Dispatcher with the Ahoskie North Carolina Police Department in 1990. In 1993 he attended the basic law enforcement training acad- emy and began working as a Patrolman until he moved to the Kill Devil Hills North Carolina Police Department in February of 1996. Captain Evans has been with Kill Devil Hills Police Department for nearly eighteen (18) years and has held the ranks of Police Officer I & II, Master Police Officer, Corporal, Sergeant, Lieutenant and currently Captain, since 2009. Captain Evans oversees the Criminal Investigation Divi- sion and serves as the agencies Internal Affairs investigator. He is a specialized firearms instructor through the State of North Carolina Education & Training Standards Com- mission and been a certified EMT since 1990. He holds instructor credentials for first-aid, CPR and AED through the American Heart Association. Captain Evans’ education consists of an A.A.S. in Criminal Justice Technology from Roanoke Chowan Community College, an A.S. in General Studies from Mount Olive College, a B.S. in Criminal Justice Administration from Mount Olive College and a M.A. in Criminal Justice from American Military University. He is a graduate of the North Carolina Justice Academy’s Management Develop- ment Program Class #21 and the FBI National Academy Session 247. Captain Evans has been married to his wife Lisa for seventeen years and they have two children, Haley (14) and Colby (10).

AED’s for all of the patrol cars. With budget cuts trimming back everything from train- ing to career development; it was difficult to justify expenditures for the units. However, in February of this year, Kill Devil Hills Chief Gary Britt agreed to purchase two refurbished Lifepak 500 AED’s and one of those happened to be in Captain Evans’ vehicle the day Mr. Parr suffered a heart attack. Gathering information from bystand- ers, Evans determined that Parr had been unresponsive and not breathing for about five minutes. Evans said, “One look at him and I immediately knew he was in serious trouble.” Evans grabbed his newly purchased AED, attached the pads to the victim’s chest and turned on the unit. The AED cycled through its automatic analysis and promoted him to shock the victim and begin chest com- pressions. It would take the Kill Devil Hills Fire and Rescue some five minutes to arrive on scene, and in that time Evans had shocked the victim two additional times at which point Parr began to breathe on his own. Dare County EMS arrived and provided advanced medical care and transported Parr to the Outer Banks Hospital in Nags Head where he was stable enough to be airlifted to Norfolk General Hospital. According to the medical staff at the Emergency Room, it was the early defibrillation and chest compressions that saved Dewey Parr’s life.

Evans said, “Being in the right place at the right time with the right piece of equip- ment was lucky. If another car without an AED had been closer, who knows what the outcome would have been. That’s why I’ve always pushed for AED’s in the police vehicle; so that part of it isn’t just luck of the draw for the next victim.” Parr remained hospitalized for six days and was released without having any long- term mental impairment. Parr later said he didn’t remember anything from the moment he went down to nearly a week later when he woke up in the hospital. His recovery after the heart attack was so swift that he was back on the job in less than two weeks. Shortly after this incident, Parr’s em- ployer, SAGA Construction of Kill Devil Hills invited Chief Britt and Captain Evans to a re- ception honoring Evans and the Town of Kill Devil Hills for saving their employee’s life. It was at this meeting that SAGA evolved the idea of starting a community-wide initiative to raise money from area businesses to outfit all the patrol division cruisers with AED’s. On July 30, 2013, SAGA Construc- tion hosted a breakfast for local contributors to their SAGA community fundraiser. They announced that not only had they reached their goal of supplying AED’s for all the pa- trol cruisers in Kill Devil Hills, but they were now expanding their initiative to outfit all law enforcement vehicles on the Outer Banks.

Mark K. Evans

O n the early morning hours of Tuesday May 28th, 2013, at approxi- mately 0739 hours, Captain Mark Evans of the Kill Devil Hills Police Department was on his way to work when he heard patrol officers dispatched to a possible unconscious male inside a home under construction. Evans responded to the call to see if he could assist. What he thought was going to be an intoxicated subject passed out at the construction site ended up being a 58 year-old man who had just suffered a massive heart attack. Evans arrived on scene within two minutes of the call being dispatched and rushed over to the man lying underneath a forklift. Evans did a quick as- sessment of the patient and determined that the job site foreman, Mr. Dewey Parr , was in cardiac arrest. This is where the story takes an interesting twist. In addition to his years in police work, Evans had also been an EMT for the past 20 years. Having used AED’s in the past he understood the value of these life-saving devices, and he had been pushing his agency to purchase

With more than 450,000 people dying each year from sudden cardiac arrest, the importance of getting Automated External Defibrillator’s (AED’s) in the hands of Police Officers – who are often the first to arrive on the scene of a medical emergency – cannot be over stated. This was clearly the case for the Kill Devil Hills Police Department located on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

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