Hamilton County Telecommunicator Saves a Life with T-CPR and Prepared Assist

Every year of the more than 350,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests that occur, 90% are fatal.

According to the American Heart Association, “When CPR begins prior to the arrival of emergency medical services (EMS) personnel, the person in cardiac arrest has a two to three-fold higher likelihood of survival.”

Telecommunicators can play a key role in facilitating this intervention through the practice of telecommunicator CPR (T-CPR), wherein they assist the untrained caller in performing high-quality CPR.

On September 5th, Kaci Boling, a Trainee at Hamilton County 9-1-1 (TN), received a call from a panicked utility service worker, Cameron Lowe, explaining that an elderly male, David Killian, was unresponsive at the home where he was performing a routine service.

Boling instructed Lowe to assess the victim’s breathing, which seemed agonal. She then sent him a link to livestream via Prepared Assist to acquire a visual and execute her own assessment. Having confirmed that the patient was not responsive, Boling walked Lowe through six full rounds of CPR.

"I can't put words to it. I don't feel like those were my hands. I did CPR for 11 minutes. And from what I understand, that's kind of unheard of," Lowe told WTVC NewsChannel 9 ABC.

By the time fire personnel had arrived on-scene, the patient had a pulse again. EMS personnel arrived soon after and briefly worked on the patient before transporting him to the hospital where he remained in the ICU for four days before being released.

The victim’s wife, Marilyn Killian, expressed her gratitude for Kaci’s work, “We're grateful to her, whoever she is, hopefully she'll see this."

Kaci also received the Lifesaver Award from her Supervisors at Hamilton County:

“Upon listening to this call in its entirety, the confirmation from EMS personnel that CPR was performed prior to their arrival, and the patient having a pulse again once responders arrived, I am recommending TCT Kaci Boling for a Lifesaver recognition. She did a phenomenal job throughout the entire call, from the initial assessment of the patient to ensuring the responders had taken over compressions before disconnecting. While TCT Boling is still rather green to our agency, she displayed a level of confidence and calmness that many tenured employees could not attain.”

Amazing work, Kaci! We’re proud to support you and Hamilton County 9-1-1.