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thedrifter
06-19-03, 12:06 PM
Security sailors save life, receive NAMs
BY SCOTT VANIER


AT2 Scott Pickryl and ABH2(AW) Douglas Shaffer of Naval Air Station Oceana’s security department were recently awarded Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals for helping save the life of a 7-year-old bicyclist injured while playing in the Wadsworth Shores Housing area of Oceana.

When the two patrolmen responded to the emergency call in the local Navy housing area, they discovered a crowd of people surrounding the child on the ground.


Moving their way through the crowd, they found the boy’s father kneeling over the victim and applying pressure to the child’s leg.


“We walked up and saw a large pile of blood underneath him,” said Pickryl.


According to the two patrolmen, the child was riding his bicycle outside the house and collided with the corner of the housing unit. The collision forced the brake handle into the child’s upper thigh area.


“I applied direct pressure to the injured area,” said Pickryl, “and just talked to the child to try and keep him calm.”


Emergency medical units arrived approximately 10 minutes after security reported, during which time the two patrolmen continued to apply direct pressure to the boy’s deep puncture wound.


According to the patrolmen, the paramedics arrived and changed the bandage on the child’s leg. While changing the bandage, the paramedics commented what a good job the patrolmen did in providing first aid.


Though most patrolmen who work for regional security are trained in first aid procedures, it’s not always easy remembering what to do when it counts.


“Calmer heads prevail,” said Pickryl, who learned emergency first aid training while serving in the Marine Corps prior to his enlistment with the Navy. “Some people get excited and some know just what to do.”


Shaffer was also trained by the military in first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation.


“I’m CPR qualified and I know a little emergency first aid training. I learned what I know from the Navy while working on the flight deck. We were required to learn about first aid.”


Capt. Jim O’Keefe, program manager for Regional Public Safety, honored the patrolmen in an award ceremony. In a citation letter to the two sailors, O’Keefe commented that their “professional ability, initiative, and unswerving devotion to duty reflected great credit upon (themselves) and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.”


The injured child was transported to Virginia Beach General Hospital where he received further care and was later released in good condition.


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Sempers,

Roger
:marine:

http://www.flagshipnews.com/current/jun192003_11.shtml