March 13, 2002

PRESS RELEASE
To: Newsroom
For Immediate Release
Contact: Brian A. Crawford, Public Information Officer
Phone: 673-6652, cell: 455-2609, page: 675-2137

Shreveport Firefighter Chosen as State "Hero of the Year" by Civic Organization

With twelve Letters of Commendation for outstanding performance of duties on the fire department and a 2000 Firefighter of the Year Award already to his credit, Captain Thames has been selected as the Louisiana State 40 and 8 Club Hero of the Year.

Captain Thames’ name was submitted to the state committee after receiving the local honor here in Shreveport last week.

Captain Thames was recently recognized for his actions of December 18, 2001. That day, Thames, while off-duty, was shopping in a local store when he noticed several people gathered around a lady seated in a motorized shopping cart. When he went to investigate, Thames found the lady to be in full cardiac arrest (not breathing and no pulse). Thames instructed someone to call 911, lowered the woman to the floor, and began to perform mouth-to-mouth as a store employee was applying chest compressions. Thames administered two electrical shocks from an Automated External Defibrillator (AED), took control of her airway, and started an IV. The woman soon regained a pulse and began breathing on her own. She was transported by department ambulance to the hospital.

Captain Thames is a twenty-two year department veteran, serving previously as a firefighter, fire driver, and fire medic officer. As a captain and paramedic in the operations division of the department, Thames oversees engine and medic crews at Station 15, located in the Sunset Acres neighborhood at West 70^th and Despot Street. Additionally, Thames has served on the department’s Emergency Medical Services Task Force Committee, Critical Incident Stress Debriefing Team, and is the "C" shift leader of the Water Rescue Team. "I can’t think of a more worthy recipient of an award of this nature than Captain Tim Thames," said Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran. Adding, "He is the embodiment of what makes our organization so great and of what a firefighter should be." ####