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On Monday during Hogansville’s City Council meeting, a presentation was given for first responders who responded to a call regarding a person not breathing on Aug. 24. They were recognized and presented a Lifesaver Award from Hogansville Chief of Police Jeff Sheppard.

According to a post from the Hogansville Police Department, on that day the Hogansville Police Department, Troup County Fire Department and Troup County EMS responded to an incident in Hogansville.

Officer Conrad Guillot, Sergeant Chase Freeman and Sergeant Richard Milliron arrived on the scene and immediately began an assessment and lifesaving intervention. Guillot and Freeman began administering CPR, while Milliron deployed the defibrillator. The three worked together as a unit continuing CPR and “shocks” in precession while awaiting the arrival of the ambulance.

It was during the CPR treatments and shocks, when the patient, Dennis Huggins, began showing some faint signs of life after the third round of shocks were administered along with CPR and airway control with oxygen. Huggins regained a faint pulse and was attempting to breath on his own, although he still needed aid.

Once EMS arrived on scene, all officers assisted them with placing Huggins on a stretcher and into the ambulance to be transported to West Georgia Medical Center.

Freeman assisted paramedics Amy Sheppard, Kaitlyn Gates, and Hailee Roberts with continued care until Huggins was stable enough to be transported to West Georgia Medical Center.

Huggins was then transported to West Georgia Medical Center with a stable pulse and was eventually transferred to the ICU. Because of the efforts and quick response by the first responders, Huggins was able to return home approximately a week later.

“Looking at the averages from where we live, the distance from the hospital and the type of event Mr. Huggins had, he had a 4% chance of making it. He more than beat the odds,” Sheppard said. “I watched these four people work diligently for serval minutes to save his life. This isn’t something that happens usually. They do their best on every call but the odds were against Huggins. These people worked together to bring those odds back up for him.”

Huggins was in attendance and stood to thank the first responders for saving his life.

“I want to say thank you very much especially for the quick response,” he said.

According to Sheppard, he will be nominating the first responders honored at the City Council for the 2023 Valor Awards.

Freeman of the Troup Country Fire Department said he felt proud of the achievement.

“We worked well as a team and had a very positive outcome from it,” he said.

“Hearing stories like this is 100% worth celebrating. For EMTs, fire fighters, paramedics, this is something they deal with on a regular basis and I know every call is different, every circumstance is different,” Hogansville Mayor Jake Ayers said. “Thank you again for showing up day in and day out, that repetition is what made tonight possible.”