First responders praised for performance

Photo provided by Johnnie Balfantz Members of the St. Amant Primary School first responder team display plaques of recognition earlier this month after being honored by the Ascension Parish School Board. Front row from left are Michelle Parr, Valerie Belleu, Jeanette Munson and Julie Stein; back row, Jaimee Williams and Sheila Moore. A construction worker was shocked at the school last month and members of the team used a defibrillator to keep the worker alive until Acadian Ambulance arrived. The worker survived and has been released from the hospital.

DONALDSONVILLE -- The Ascension Parish School Board has honored St. Amant Primary School’s first responder team for its efforts in saving the life of a construction worker who was shocked on campus last month.

Those recognized at the board’s June 5 meeting included Elkie Aldridge, Flo Alexander, Joyce Anderson, Valerie Belleu, Christy Bourgeois, Alva Childress, Latoya Green, Jeannie Massey, Debbie McClure, Sheila Moore, Jeanette Munson, Michelle Parr, Brian Richard, Kathy Robinson, Susan Rodriguez, Diann Ryan, Julie Stein, Tessie Trabeau and Jaimee Williams.

St. Amant Primary Principal Christie Crooks said the worker was electrocuted May 14 when the worker held a piece of metal that made contact with a power line.

Debbie Gautreau, district school nurses coordinator, said the team’s efforts and use of a defibrillator kept the worker alive until Acadian Ambulance emergency responders could bring the worker to a hospital.

“The team responded amazingly,” she said. “We did a debriefing the day after the incident, and there was nothing that we could recommend have been done better.”

Gautreau said defibrillators were put in each public school in 2009 in conjunction with creation of first responder teams at the schools.

Johnnie Balfantz, school system spokesman, said that the defibrillators were purchased with help from Gautreau, former Superintendent Donald Songy, St. Amant Volunteer Fire Chief James LeBlanc, Dr. Chris Trevino of St. Elizabeth Hospital and area chemical plants, including Williams Olefins LLC and Air Products and Chemicals Inc.

Crooks said that the construction worker, who is originally from Florida and does not have any family members in the area, has been released from a Baton Rouge hospital.