CORDELE, Georgia — A Cordele police corporal has received the department’s Life Safety Award after taking over CPR during an emergency response that the police chief said directly contributed to a woman’s survival.
The Cordele Dispatch reported Sept. 21 that Police Chief Danny Hicks presented the award to Corporal Kenan Raines during the Sept. 15 Cordele City Commission meeting. The recognition followed an Aug. 30 call involving an unresponsive person at Northern Heights Baptist Church.
Raines took over chest compressions
Raines told the newspaper that he and Officer Lull responded with fire and emergency medical personnel. Raines was the first officer to enter the building, where he found a woman on the floor and another woman already performing chest compressions.
Not knowing how long the bystander had been doing CPR, Raines said he took over so she could rest. Officer Lull remained ready to relieve him if needed while fire and EMS personnel prepared to continue the patient’s care.
When EMS arrived, responders prepared the woman for an automated chest-compression device, according to Raines’s account. Hicks credited the corporal with acting decisively under pressure and using lifesaving techniques that contributed to the patient’s survival.
ThinBlueNews is not identifying the patient or adding medical details beyond the source report.
Earlier EMT education helped prepare him
Raines said he studied to become an emergency medical technician before beginning his law-enforcement career. Although he ultimately chose police work rather than EMS as a career, he said that education — combined with his law-enforcement training — prepared him to maintain the rhythm and technique required for effective chest compressions.
He characterized the response not as something outside police work, but as one of the many responsibilities officers train to handle. Raines also credited Officer Lull, firefighters and EMS personnel, calling the response a team effort.
The account provides a close look at how that team functioned: a bystander began immediate aid, the first officer through the door continued it, another officer stood ready to rotate in, and medical responders brought the equipment and care needed for the next stage.
A Life Safety Award for calm action
The Sept. 15 presentation placed public recognition around work that unfolded in minutes. The award citation, as reported by the newspaper, emphasized professionalism, calm under pressure and mastery of lifesaving techniques.
For local police officers, emergency medical care can become part of a call before an ambulance crew reaches the patient. In Cordele, Raines’s earlier medical education and continuing police training met that moment, while other responders worked alongside him to carry the effort forward.
This story is part of ThinBlueNews’s coverage of police rescue news and positive police news involving civilian law-enforcement agencies.
Editorial note: ThinBlueNews checked its complete local article index and found no prior report about this CPR response or award. The source publisher displayed a ceremony photograph, but no republication license, permission record or public-domain basis for ThinBlueNews was established, so those pixels were not copied. The featured image is original, photo-independent symbolic artwork and does not depict the officer, patient, church, CPR response or award presentation.