Nogales Fire Department receives honor

A grateful family expresses thanks to the Nogales Fire Department: “To the heroic efforts you contribute to our community and for your outstanding performance in saving the life of our very much loved Rene Leon we thank You Immensely! Our Family is very grateful to have such a magnificent crew working for our Family and the many Families in the close knit City of Nogales.”

Captain Gerry Castro, Nogales Fire Department, proudly describes the rescue: “On July 28th (2009) B Shift crew did an outstanding job while responding to a Cardiac Arrest event, I believe that all the elements of the chain of survival were there for Mr. Leon and it included early bystander CPR intervention, early 911 activation, early defibrillation, early Advanced Life Support and early definitive care along with the implementation of the Cardio Cerebral Resuscitation (CCR) all were big components as a whole in the survival of Mr. Leon.”

The Nogales Fire Department is proud of the outstanding performance that all NFD personnel have demonstrated and the outstanding outreach program that will be implemented throughout the community that will include training and certifying at the Nogales Unified School District employees, coaches, teachers and Freshmen Class on CPR and CCR procedures.

Mary Ann Matter, Base Hospital Manager at University Medical Center, Tucson, explains the adoption of CCR by Nogales Fire Department and others in Santa Cruz County. “[CCR] has been found to triple cardiac arrest survival in Arizona. These findings led us to partner with our EMS Agencies in Santa Cruz County and the Arizona Department of Health Services to improve cardiac arrest care.”

“As part of a quality improvement plan, EMS agencies embraced the implementation of CCR throughout the County. We are pleased to see the fruit of this effort already occurring with the recent survival of Mr. Leon. We are encouraged by the efforts of the Nogales Fire Department and all of our Santa Cruz County EMS agencies,” she added.

You can also read the story following the link http://www.azshare.gov/SurvivorStories and clicking on the Rene Leon: Nogales Fire Department’s first survival story.