By Drew Johnson
Corrections1 Editor
SCHAEFFERSTOWN, Pa. – Corrections officer Dan Martin, 29, was on a leisurely drive on Sunday, March 27th when he had the chance to use his corrections first aid training to help a civilian whose car had overturned in a ditch.
Martin was driving down a country road outside of Berks County when he caught sight of a car sitting on its roof about 20 yards off the road. Though he assumed everyone was okay, the police had been called, and the car was just waiting for a wrecker, his gut kept telling him to check the car out.
After getting out of his car he heard a voice calling for help. He asked his girlfriend Caroline, who was with him, to call 911 and use their GPS system to give the dispatcher their exact coordinates, and he headed toward the overturned SUV.
He saw a woman in her mid-20s hanging upside down by her seatbelt in the driver’s seat, and that’s when his training kicked in.
“We learned in our corrections training to always ask if it’s okay to help if you’re dealing with civilians because of the risk of lawsuits,” Martin said. “So I asked if she needed help and she said she just wanted to get out of the car.”
Martin was able to get into the car through the driver’s side rear door and, once again remembering his training, made sure the woman knew that she may have been at risk for a back or neck injury before getting her down.
She acknowledged the risk and he cut her loose before carrying her away from the car. The Reading police and EMS showed up soon thereafter and took over care of the patient.
Martin credits his instructors with drilling the fundamentals of first aid into his head during training.
“First aid is a serious subject because when you’re in the field, in the heat of the moment, it’s easy to forget. But the way they taught us made it fun to learn and easy to follow – I’ll always remember it,” he said.
Martin added that he’d had to use his training on a number of occasions inside the Lebanon County Prison, where he works, on inmates who have cut themselves or who have been cut in fights.
“It’s because of that training that several inmates are alive today,” he said.
On that Sunday two weeks ago, it was a lucky civilian who benefited from Martin’s cool head -- a testament to the good officers can do outside the walls.
When asked if the woman he helped that day said anything, Martin replied: “She told me she was extremely terrified, and when she heard my voice she knew she would be okay.”