By Jim Hook, Public Opinion (Chambersburg, Pennsylvania)

CHAMBERSBURG — Jan. 31, 2012 — Two 911 dispatchers were honored today for giving emergency instructions to a bystander who helped bring a baby into the world and another who kept a heart attack victim from departing.

Franklin County Commissioners gave letters of commendation to Larry Booze, 36, of Fort Loudon and Timothy Mowen, 29, of Greencastle. The two dispatchers answered the life-changing calls in early December.

Within four minutes of answering a call, Mowen helped a husband deliver his wife’s baby.

Dave Donohue, director of the Franklin County Emergency Services, credited Booze with saving a life.

Booze on the evening of Dec. 10 answered a 911 phone call. A 47 year old man had collapsed and was not breathing. Booze determined the man was in cardiac arrest and instructed the caller in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Booze said he did not know if the caller was trained in CPR.

“I’m lucky he was cooperative,” Booze said. “Sometimes the hardest part in trying to get them to help is getting them calmed down so they can do the skills.”

The survival rate of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is less than 5 percent, according to Donohue.

The caller’s CPR was successful and ambulance crews detected a treatable rhythm when they arrived, according to the commendation prepared by Donohue. They used a defibrillator and medication to convert the cardiac arrest to a normal rhythm. The victim had returned to life by the time he reached the hospital.

“It’s another way to help out,” said Booze, a volunteer firefighter for 20 years and a dispatcher for more than two years. “I did the baby thing before.”

Mowen, a dispatcher for less than two years, had expected a routine trip in an ambulance for a 31-year-old pregnant woman and her husband when he answered a 911 call at 10:26 p.m. on Dec. 8. The woman’s water had broken and she was in labor. Mowen soon found that a birth was imminent.”It was a matter of seconds,” Mowen said.

The delivery went off without a hitch before the ambulance arrived. The mother declined ambulance crew’s offer to let her snip the umbilical cord, Donohue said.

The two men were trained in Emergency Medical Dispatch, he said. The system allows them to quickly narrow down a caller’s emergency so they can better dispatch emergency services and instruct the caller before help arrives.

The two dispatchers’ actions reflected dedication, pride, and professionalism on themselves and the county Department of Emergency Services, according to the letters of commendation.

“It’s quite impressive to be able to talk people though these things without being in the room,” Commissioner David Keller said. “Your communication skills have to be of the highest caliber to facilitate this.”

Both dispatchers said that some callers mistakenly believe that because a dispatcher is talking them through an emergency, nobody is dispatching the ambulance. The county has five dispatchers on duty at all times, Donohue said. One can talk to the caller and another dispatch first responders.

“We belong to them until the call ends,” Mowen said.

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