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Mid Georgia Ambulance | 9
CPR and continued until Honolulu EMS
arrived. The tourist ultimately recovered
and returned to Michigan with quite a sto-
ry to share. Werkheiser went on to earn
the Public Safety Hometown Hero Award
presented by the Central Georgia Chapter
of the American Red Cross.
Of course, life saving isn’t confined
to paramedic and EMT operations, as
Abel-Kiker indicates that those serving in
MGA’s dispatch center have also impart-
ed emergency medical services – over the
phone.
MGA’s Central Medical Emergency
Dispatch center in Macon houses the
technology as well as the trained staff to
respond to emergencies throughout Geor-
gia. Dispatchers are trained through the
National Academy of Emergency Dis-
patchers and are adept in using what is
known as the Emergency Medical Dis-
patch pre-arrival instructions, a system
that enables dispatchers to assess each
patient over the phone while dispatch-
ing an ambulance to the scene of the call.
This helps ensure there is no lapse in care
for its patients; each is cared for from the
time they contact the dispatch center until
the time medics release them to a receiv-
ing facility or hospital. MGA dispatch-
ers have helped callers administer CPR,
deliver first-aid and have even assisted