Kaila Sanders Honored for Efforts to Rescue Two Individuals Within Several-Week Period

By
Mountain Jackpot
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Teller County Sheriff’s Office

Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell recently presented Dispatcher Kaila Sanders with two Life Saver awards for exemplary performance.

The honorary presentation was made in the agency’s training room in Divide during a training session on Nov. 13. Teller County Sheriff Dispatch Director Roger Coker also participated in the special award ceremony.

Kaila Sanders was heavily praised for her job performance as a key dispatcher for the agency.

Occasionally dispatchers have the tremendous opportunity to complete work on 911 calls that result in saving a person’s life.  However, it’s very rare for this to happen with the same dispatcher twice within a span of a couple of weeks in Teller County.

Kaila answered a 911 call on the evening of September 30 and quickly recognized the caller was describing another person who was experiencing a potential fentanyl overdose.  She effectively gathered the necessary information to dispatch an ambulance team and notified them while enroute of the suspected fentanyl involvement. This became a critical factor in helping them prepare for a quick and accurate response upon arrival and resulted in saving the patient’s life.  While the ambulance was enroute, Sanders expertly coached the caller with instructions for administering CPR for nearly 10 minutes directly contributing to saving the patient’s life.

This wasn’t the only time Kaila Sanders played a key role in saving someone’s life.

On Sunday, October 13, Kaila answered a 911 call from a husband stating his wife was unresponsive.  Recognizing the gravity of the situation, Sanders quickly gathered the details necessary to dispatch an ambulance team and very professionally coached the caller through the situation and helped him to remain calm and administer CPR to the patient.  Kaila and the husband were able to restore the patient’s pulse before the person could be transported to the hospital.
EMTs called after the incident and stated that the patient would likely not have survived without Dispatcher Sanders’ expert support during the call.TCSO Dispatchers face the possibility of life and death calls during many of their daily work shifts.
Methodical and dedicated training and commitment to excellent service enables these dispatchers to handle these calls swiftly and effectively.  Their compassionate, caring, and professional support is critical for many callers who are experiencing one of the worst days of their life.  As the first – first responders, the dispatcher is critical to gather valuable and necessary information for the arriving responders to help people in distress.

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