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May 2022
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HEROES 6 • Toby Miller Bainbridge Public Safety Investigator Toby Miller started on the other side of the line, working at E911. Now, he’s facing in-person situations during traffic stops and domestics.
12 • Amy Eakin After an internship with the Oak House Child Advocacy Center during college, Forensic Interviewer Amy Eakin knew she had found her passion, helping the voiceless.
16 • Brian Palmer Trooper Brian Palmer has experienced the highs and lows of working in law enforcement. From being the lead detail for VP Pence to working fatal accidents, he’s been through it all.
20 • Nadine Brown While waiting tables in Panama City, Florida, Nadine Brown found her true calling- working as an EMS Paramedic. Now, 30 years later, she wouldn’t change a thing.
24 • Terry Phillips Nearing retirement, Decatur County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Terry Phillips now shares everything he’s learned and all the changes that have happened over the last 30 years.
28 • Sharon Knight Growing up in Bainbridge, Sharon Knight always felt a desire to help her hometown. Serving as a community support worker at the Vashti Center has given her that opportunity.
32 • Ed Newton, RT Serving as the director of the Respiratory Therapy Unit at Memorial Hospital and Manor for 15 years, Ed Newton has gotten to help multiple babies and their mothers during birth. 4 • Heroes
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May 2022 | The Post-Searchlight • 5
Investigator Toby Miller stands outside Bainbridge Public Safety with one of the new police cruisers.
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STORY & PHOTOS BY
ETHAN REDDISH
Never backing down on the job After being held at gunpoint while working as a cashier, Toby Miller decided to join law enforcement to protect himself and the community he serves.
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ot everyone is cut out for serving their community in law enforcement. The danger, not to mention the mental toll it can take, are factors one should weigh before committing. According to Bainbridge Public Safety Investigator Toby Miller, it’s a serious profession and calling, not “a ride along the way to get a paycheck.” Miller initially got into law enforcement with Georgia State Patrol, working as a dispatcher, however this was not his dream career goal. “I got tired of sitting behind a radio and wanted to do what the troopers did,” he said. When the dispatch center moved to Americus, an almost 100-mile trip one way, Miller made the decision to join Bainbridge Public Safety instead. “I’ve got the same old cliché story, of kids growing
up watching ‘Cops’, and getting a love for wanting to do that stuff,” he recounted. “I worked in the grocery business before I got into law enforcement, and I’d already started chasing different people stealing stuff out of the store, stuff like that.” One night, while working behind the store counter, a robber put a gun in Miller’s face, and pulled the trigger. The gun, fortunately, didn’t go off, but this event naturally changed Miller. “I told myself then, that if I was going to work in a customer service atmosphere, if I was going to work somewhere like that’s gonna happen, I wanted the training and the ability to deal with it when it did happen,” he said. “The way to do that was to start moving toward law enforcement training.” Miller joined Bainbridge Public Safety in December
May 2022 | The Post-Searchlight • 7
“
The severity of some of the family violence cases that I’ve investigated, it really gets to you. I was raised different, you don’t put your hands on women, and too many times I’ve seen that. of 2009. Initially starting out on patrol, he was gradually exposed to the more investigative side of BPS. “We’ve had large strings of entering autos… We had one that wound up with two juveniles, that were charged with over 40 counts of entering autos. That was one of the first times I got really exposed to how investigation stuff works.” There have been cases over the years that have tested Miller: “The severity of some of the family violence cases that I’ve investigated, it really gets to you,” he said. “I was raised different, you don’t put your hands on women, and too many times I’ve seen that, where a woman has been beaten so bad because of something she said… Obviously any kind of sex
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crimes against children is something else that’s very difficult, and I think that’s difficult for any law enforcement officer to deal with.” Miller typically prefers to work narcotics investigations, as well as patrolling. “I kind of work investigations, but I’m still using a patrol vehicle. Instead of being an unmarked unit, I still like using a patrol vehicle and getting out into the traffic stuff,” he said. For anyone considering working in law enforcement, Miller had some words of advice. “I didn’t have any college when I started in this field of work, and I did not have the ability to know how to talk to people,” he recalled. “If you’re looking to
get into this… learn how to converse with anybody, learn how to talk to folks. That has been one of the biggest disadvantages to a lot of officers, they’re scared to talk to individuals.” He encouraged being personable, and to “talk to them like your mama and daddy.” However, Miller also wanted to remind potential officers of the seriousness of their position. “You’ve got to watch what you do, watch what you say, watch how you react, you’re always in the public’s eye, and you need to understand that,” he said. “You don’t need to shirk that responsibility. From the moment you put that gun and badge on and you walk out that door, it’s time to be a police officer. This is not a ride along the way to get a paycheck.”
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Amy Eakin stands inside the Oak House Child Advocacy Center office, where paintings adorn the walls to make children feel comfortable.
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STORY & PHOTOS BY
JILL HOLLOWAY
Helping kids in harm’s way After serving as intern at The Oak House Child Advocacy Center, Amy Eakin found her calling to advocate for children all over Decatur County.
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he word, “hero” takes on a whole new meaning when thinking of Amy Eakin. Eakin, a forensic interviewer and Director of the Oak House Child Advocacy Center, has dedicated her life to putting away individuals who abuse and prey on children. Eakin began her work in 2012. Prior to joining the Oak House CAC full-time, Eakin had interned there, while studying Sociology in college. “It became my passion,” she said. “I now cover the whole Judicial Circuit.” Once starting her work professionally at the Oak House, she returned to school to focus on forensic interviewing, eventually returning for extended forensic interviewing and advanced forensic interviewing.
Forensic interviewing is a specialty focused on child interviewing techniques. “We interview children anywhere age 3-18,” Eakin explained. “We can interview them for sexual abuse, physical abuse or children who just witness domestic violence.” During a forensic interview, it is just Eakin and the child, although any agency involved, such as law enforcement or the Department of Family and Children Services, are invited. If any agency decides to attend the interview, they are required to sit in another room and can watch on another screen. “These interviews are all recorded, because they can be used as evidence in that case,” Eakin said. As agencies will see on the video, all of the interviews
May 2022 | The Post-Searchlight • 13
Eakin conducts are childfriendly. “All of the questions formed in the interview come directly from the child,” she explained. “If the child doesn’t bring it up, I don’t bring it up.” Hearing the horrors these children have been through during the interviews can sometimes haunt Eakin. “When I first started interviewing, I had a really tough time with it,” she said. “I still have cases to this day that I will never forget.” Even with the harrowing cases, though, there can be a silver lining. That silver lining can come in the form of a letter. Eakin said she received a letter that now hangs on her wall in her office to remind her of why she keeps on fighting for these kids. The letter was from a mother whose daughter Eakin interviewed in one of her first few cases. “On Black Friday of 2013, my daughter woke up ready to tell her secret,” the letter read. “Pop tart crumbs still around her mouth from breakfast, she let go of everything she’d been holding on to for two long years. None of us had any idea of what to expect when we made the initial report, it was all so formal and overwhelming, even my 7-year-old daughter felt it. The first time during our process of making the sexual abuse reports about our daughter that I felt my shoulders relax just a little was that afternoon when we walked into The Oak House in Bainbridge and were introduced to Amy Eakin… having her as my daughter’s advocate was the biggest blessing to me as a mom, when all I felt was agony and pain seeing how the abuse affected
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Jill Holloway— Post-Searchlight
THEIR FIGHT IS OUR FIGHT: Eakin, pictured with members of the Decatur County Sheriff’s Office, DFCS and Bainbridge Public Safety recently hosted a Child Abuse Prevention Month lunch, where a child abuse survivor shared her story. my daughter firsthand. She comforted me and helped me through the worst imaginable thing a parent could think would ever happen to their child.” The mother went on to laud Eakin for advocating for her daughter during the trial, when her daughter was too scared to go to the stand when called. “I will forever be grateful for her and how much love and empathy she showed,” the letter ended. Eakin is often reminded of the young girl’s strength when she reads the letter. The girl has gone on to be a teenager now, but Eakin fully believes if that young girl was strong enough to go through that experience, then she can be strong enough to fight for every child, just like her. “I live by the Bible verse, Isaiah 6:8,” Eakin said. “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’” Eakin said she resonates with the verse, because she fully believes she was sent by
the Lord to be the children’s voice. “When I interview a kid I say, ‘Okay God here I am,’” Eakin explained. “I may get beat up on the stand, but at least it’s not the kid.” Eakin does not get to take the stand in court cases in place of the children she usually interviews, however she said the brunt of the crossexamination is what falls on her. “We follow these cases all the way through until prosecution,” she said. While most cases are won with Eakin’s testimony, she said the ones she never forgets are the very few losses. “I can count on one hand the number of cases we’ve lost, because I’ll never forget them,” she said. “We can’t win them all, but we try.” Through working these cases, Eakin has become protective of her own family, including her children and grandchildren. “My children can tell you that they didn’t get to do things their friends did,” she said. “I didn’t let them go to sleepovers,
because I saw things that happened.” Eakin has learned many things on the job that she implements at home, but most importantly she has learned to listen to kids when they say they don’t like an adult and to never force a child to hug an adult, when they are expressing they don’t want to. “We are that way with my granddaughter, even though she’s my granddaughter,” Eakin shared. “It’s her body and we want her to be comfortable.” Eakin is hopeful this will pay off in the long run and that her children and grandchildren will never have to endure the sexual or physical abuse that she has seen for far too long in her line of work. While Eakin doesn’t consider herself a hero to her family or the children she serves, she said it is humbling, when she receives notes like she did from the mother to remind her that she is truly fulfilling God’s work- something that she hopes to continue doing until she is called to do otherwise.
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Brian Palmer gets ready for his last day in his patrol car, while waiting for his new ghost ride to arrive.
STORY & PHOTOS BY
JILL HOLLOWAY
The calm in a storm Georgia State Patrol Trooper Brian Palmer has faced some of the toughest calls while working at GSP, but also experienced the highs that come with it.
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eorgia State Patrol Trooper Brian Palmer loves serving the community and helping people. While the calls sometimes “make the hairs on the back of his neck stand up,” there is nothing he would rather be doing, as his service in law enforcement has allowed him to experience some amazing things. Palmer is the first in his family to join law enforcement. He was originally inspired by his friends, who seemed to really love the profession. “My friend (Pat Trolinger) was working at Bainbridge Public Safety, and I had some friends I had talked to at Florida Highway Patrol, and I thought hey I may really enjoy that,” Palmer recounted. Palmer then joined BPS, where he knew he had found
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his calling. “I like being able to go to people in need during their worst of worst days,” he said. “I like trying to be that calm to their storm.” During his time at BPS, Palmer experienced some memorable cases, especially ones involving the lives of children. In 2008, Palmer got a call early on a Wednesday morning in reference to a house fire. “Me and Marvin Knight and Jeff Kelley were the first ones there, and the call said a small child was entrapped,” Palmer recounted. “Me and Marvin Knight suited up and I located a 2-year child, who had buried herself in the back of the house in a basket of clothes.”
May 2022 | The Post-Searchlight • 17
Palmer was able to pick up the child safely, run her out of the house and pass her on to Dr. Wilson, who was on scene. Palmer said she was then flown to a burn center and is doing fine today. When Palmer began working at Georgia State Patrol, he responded to multiple accidents. However, he said there are some he can never forget. One of those is the accident involving young Remington Walden, where Palmer was first on scene. “Not only was that one of my best friend’s son, but I was kin to him,” Palmer said. “It was a very traumatic experience.” While the job can be tough at times such as these, it has also provided Palmer with amazing experiences, such as being part of the Secret Service detail for former Vice President Mike Pence, when he visited Bainbridge following Hurricane Michael. “I was the lead car for his detail,” Palmer said. “I had the lead sniper and the lead
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security detail with me.” Prior to Pence’s visit, Palmer had to map out how they would get Pence from point A to point B, where he would park his vehicle and work with the vehicle in front of him, who was the PIT car, in case anyone tried to harm Pence. Palmer said one of the most interesting things was hearing the lead sniper talk on the radio and hearing where snipers were located throughout the county on the way to FRM. “It was probably one of the most exciting things I’ve done,” Palmer said. “I got to meet him and he was nothing like I thought he might be; he was very down-to-earth.” In addition to the excitement of meeting the Vice President, Palmer was also excited to receive a life-saving award once. He was in a chase that began in Cairo and spanned through Bainbridge, before the suspect was stopped by a PIT maneuver in Miller County. “He overdosed by eating a Fentanyl patch when I stopped
him, so I hit him with six rounds of NARCAN (a nasal spray used to treat a suspected narcotic overdose) before EMS got there,” Palmer said. Due to Palmer’s actions, the suspect survived and was transferred to Archbold, where he was later put on a NARCAN drip for five days. While this chase resulted in a positive outcome for everyone, that’s not always the case. “There are definitely times when the hairs on the back of my next stand up,” Palmer said. “I think if there’s ever a day it doesn’t for someone, then they’ve gotten way too comfortable.” Palmer shared a story about a routine traffic stop that happened just days prior to his interview. “I stopped a car and the last thing the guy said to me was ‘All I’ve got is my gun,’ but then he went for “an itch” and the fight was on,” Palmer said. “Luckily the gun was not in his waistband and I was able to pin him until Darren Heard got to me.”
A few years back, Palmer was involved in another chase that turned into shots fired. “They started shooting at me, but I had BPS and other Troopers with me,” he said. “We were eventually able to find all three of the suspects after they bailed out of their car; we got the helicopter out and found them the next morning.” Despite this terrifying encounter, Palmer said he knows working in law enforcement is still what he wants to do and encourages others to consider joining the “Brothers in Blue.” “It’s a different world than it was when I joined, so people who do want to join, my hat goes off to them, but I encourage them, because we are losing a lot of good officers due to retirement and medical,” Palmer ended. “If someone wants to get this in profession today, though your heart and mind has to be in it, because it is a different day and time than it was 10 or 20 years ago.”
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STORY & PHOTOS BY
ETHAN REDDISH
A call she couldn’t turn down Nadine Brown has worked in Emergency Medical Services since 1992, and while technology has changed her dedication to the job has never been stronger.
S
ome people feel the call to serve their community after a significant event in their life. But some may just suddenly feel the call out of the blue, as if a divine spark just suddenly struck them. Nadine Brown felt this more sudden spark strike her 30 years ago, calling her to join Decatur Emergency Medical Services. “I was waiting tables in Panama City,” Brown recounted. “I lived on the beach for a while, and one day I was cleaning up in the kitchen, an ambulance came by, and I just felt something pop me on the head and say ‘That’s what you’re supposed to do.’” Brown initially started out part-time with EMS in 1992, before moving to full-time in 1993. Having worked in the field for so long, she has seen how the technology
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has advanced over the decades. “There’s been a lot of changes,” she said. “We now can do a lot of medical procedures and give meds that we couldn’t when I first started, so the education has come a long way.” In this line of work, it’s inevitable that some patients don’t always make it. According to Brown, it’s always heartbreaking to her, “Because you see the grief that the family goes through.” She also emphasized finding ways to relieve the stress that comes with this line of work, lest an EMT suffer burnout. “You have to remember that you can’t carry it home with you, you’ve got to do something to relieve your stress, because if you carry it home with you, you can’t last in this job.” Brown personally uses prayer to help. “I’m a believer, I’m a Christian, and
EMS Paramedic Nadine Brown stands in front of the ambulance she often drives to people in need of help.
May 2022 | The Post-Searchlight • 21
that’s what gets me through,” she said. Brown also stated that, nationwide, EMS is suffering a staffing shortage, which she attributed to burnout. “There’s a lot of dedication that has to go into EMS, because we work 24 hours on and 48 hours off, so we work every third day, rain or shine,” she explained. “We work holidays, we get off at 8:00 in the morning, but if there’s a call at the last minute, you might not get off until 10 or 11. You have to have strong family support to be successful.” For anyone still
willing to make the commitment to EMS, Brown said, “It’s a wonderful profession. I couldn’t do anything else… It gets in your heart, and it’s hard to leave. You just have to find you a coping mechanism so the sadness doesn’t drive you out.” In closing, she said, “I feel like I am a very blessed person by being able to serve the citizens of Decatur County. I love ‘em all, and we have some sick people, so I get to see a lot of people multiple times, and I feel blessed being able to serve them.”
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Decatur County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Terry Phillips stands in front of the mobile Crime Scene Unit.
24 • Heroes
STORY & PHOTOS BY
ETHAN REDDISH
Navigating an ever-changing field With over 30 years of experience, Decatur County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Terry Phillips has seen his fair share of changes in investigative tactics.
E
xperience is a valuable thing to have, and when you’ve been working in a certain field for an extended period of time, you’ll not only have gained experience, but witnessed how the field has evolved and changed over time. Decatur County Sheriff ’s Office Investigator Terry Phillips has had over 30 years of experience in law enforcement, and has certainly seen his fair share of changes. “We’re moving into an age where we’ve transitioned from only having two or three cars that people had to share and limited equipment, to now where everybody’s got their own vehicle and you can respond from your house,” Phillips said. “It used to be you’d have to come to your agency or department and perhaps pick up a vehicle, because there were not enough vehicles.” Phillips initially started out working at Bainbridge
Public Safety in 1987. “I was with BPS, I was a shift sergeant there for patrol, up until July of 2000,” he recalled. “Then I left there and started here the next day. Sherriff Griffin had been the sheriff… a little over a year at that point, and I came over. I don’t regret it at all.” He was initially approached about joining the sheriff ’s department by Wendell Cofer and Gale Bowyer, and began working as a patrolman, up until 2010. “Then after that I moved into investigations, because, God, I had been a patrolman since 1987… you figure that’s, what, 20-something years? I was ready for a change,” he said. Moving into investigations didn’t just offer a change of pace, though. It has showed how far investigative practices have evolved over the decades, beyond
May 2022 | The Post-Searchlight • 25
Investigator Phillips shows some of the various kits used in investigation, in this case a gunpowder residue kit.
just having more cars available. “We’ve transitioned now into digital forensics, which I see is gonna be the coming thing, which I probably won’t be around to see that,” Phillips said. “Now with the ability of digital forensics, with the boxes in vehicles, those electronic control box computers, you can literally take that, with the right equipment, and you can observe and figure out a route a vehicle drove, to and from a crime.” Phillips has also seen genetic forensics progress over the decades. “With the DNA, it’s amazing now, the number of crimes that can be solved with just DNA,” he said. Phillips has seen crimes ranging from rape to homicide solved with these methods. One case that stood out to Phillips during his career involved a ring of thieves from Early and Baker County stealing highprice seeds from various ag businesses and facilities in Decatur County. “We finally
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got a break through, I remember, Colquitt Police Department, and Miller County got a tip from somebody,” he recounted. “I had broached some search warrants for some tower dumps on cell phones, because they had hit several places here in the county, and I was trying to match up the numbers.” After law enforcement in other counties were able to acquire an identifiable phone number from an informant, this allowed Phillips to identify the thieves, and law enforcement to make arrests. “Everything that I had done, with what they had done, it just all fit together, and we were able to solve so many cases and make arrests.” The thieves in this case were selling their stolen goods to an agribusiness in Alabama. This highlights yet another change Investigator Phillips has seen over the years: an increase in out of county, or even out of state, criminals crossing into Decatur County to commit crimes. “Now
with cell phones and computers, and Facebook, and everybody’s got a vehicle now… it means it’s not unusual to have people come from two counties over, or Florida or Alabama, and come here to Decatur County to commit thefts,” he said exasperatedly. “Where used to, you didn’t see that as much, but now it’s not unusual.” Now with 35 years of service in law enforcement behind him, and 22 of those with the sheriff ’s department, Phillips is looking at retirement within the next couple of years. Looking back on his time, he said, “When I was young and was first hired on in my 20’s, I thought having a badge and a gun, meant ‘authority’, but as time goes on, you really see that you can’t do anything without the public’s help.” In closing, he said, “Treat people the way you want to be treated, and help people the way you would want to be helped if you were that victim.”
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May 2022 | The Post-Searchlight • 27
28 • Heroes
STORY & PHOTOS BY
JILL HOLLOWAY
No one has to struggle alone Known as “the anchor” of the Vashti Center, Sharon Knight has always pulled everyone together to help kids with their mental health.
A
hero can be described as someone who is “admired for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.” Sharon Knight does not consider herself a hero, but if you ask the countless children she’s helped over the past 13 years, they would tell you otherwise. Knight is a community support worker at the Vashti Center. The Vashti Center is a community mental health program, offering in-clinic and in-home community mental health services to children and their families. It currently serves more than 250 children and families throughout six counties in Southwest Georgia, helping them overcome despair, find peace and become empowered to build a better life in future. Knight plays an integral role in helping the children
empower themselves, as she often visits the schools throughout the six counties, working with teachers to figure out how to best suit certain students’ needs. Knight explained children can be referred to the Vashti Center if they are having trouble at school or if they have been through a trauma or are experiencing grief. “We offer a behavioral health assessment,” she said. “That is something the therapist would do, and would be considered the first step.” The therapist would then meet with the parents or guardians, discuss what the situation is and devise a plan of action, rather it be therapy, community support services or family skills training. In addition, children can also be assessed by a doctor and a nurse, who are onsite every Thursday to see if
May 2022 | The Post-Searchlight • 29
“
I like being an anchor to this office and having families know they can count on Mrs. Sharon with the Vashti Center they need medication to help alleviate the mental issues they are facing. If no medication is needed, but the child has been referred to getting help from community support services or family skills training, that is where Knight comes in. “What I do is work with that child on coping skills, social skills, setting boundaries and I work with the families on how to address the behavioral issues at home… I really just focus on whatever that child needs,” she explained. Knight also works to link children with other specialists who can help them. She shared that if a child has a learning disability, she will often go to the school and help facilitate support for the student or if there are behavioral issues, work with the school’s behavior interventionist. Dealing with children day in and day out who are struggling with their own mental health can sometimes take a toll. However, Knight said Vashti Center really encourages all of their workers to communicate with one another. “We have a lot of support,” Knight said. “We rely on each other to talk about things going on with the kids; self-care is also important. We encourage each other to take the time we need.” While Knight may take time for herself every once in a while, she puts on a brave
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face for the kids she serves, as she said the kids are experiencing so many different types of trauma and it’s important to be aware of that. COVID-19 added more issues to not only physical trauma, such as abuse, but Knight said she saw more depression due to isolation and academic issues due to virtual schooling and lack of socialization. “We still have kids who haven’t gone back and are still online and it’s causing a lot of depression and anxiety,” she said. However, those feelings can be overcome with the help of Knight and the Vashti Center. The Vashti Center serves children up to age 18, and while some children may be feeling depressed or anxious due to schooling, others may feel that way due to an ongoing substance abuse issue. Knight said this is something she, along with every other trained provider, can help with. The Vashti Center offers what is known as The Seven Challenges. The Seven Challenges is a comprehensive counseling program that incorporates work on alcohol and other drug problems. It is designed to motivate patients to evaluate their lives, consider changes they wish to make and then succeed in implementing the desired changes. “It is specifically designed to work
with adolescents in the developmental phase,” she said. “If we have a child, who is actively using, we would present this to them and work with them by taking a whole look at their life.” Knight explained that sometimes during The Seven Challenges, other issues may be addressed as the child develops a repertoire with the case worker. This is common not only in The Seven Challenges, but in every patient Knight sees. She said when first assessed, children are typically on a path to be discharged by the end of 3-months, but as things come up, they can be further discussed. “At the end of the 90-day period, they’ll be reassessed,” she said. “It’s so rewarding to see the progress they’ve made, though. I just love helping the children of Bainbridge.” Knight’s love of helping children is what makes her not only a hero, but the “anchor” of the Bainbridge Vashti Center. She was one of the first employees hired before there was ever a Bainbridge location and has since been loyal, despite a CEO and a clinical manager leaving over the years. “I like being an anchor to this office and having families know they can count on Mrs. Sharon with the Vashti Center,” she finished.
May 2022 | The Post-Searchlight • 31
STORY & PHOTOS BY
JILL HOLLOWAY
Coming to the baby’s rescue Respiratory Therapist Edwin (Ed) Newton has been experiencing the miracle of birth for 30 years, helping resuscitate premature babies or babies born via C-Section.
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ny mother who has had a traumatic birthing experience can tell you that Memorial Hospital and Manor Respiratory Therapist, Edwin (Ed) Newton is a real life hero. Newton has been with MHM for 35 years and previously served as the director of the Respiratory Therapy Unit for 15 years. Since working at MHM, Newton has been to hundreds of births and experienced the miracle of life countless time. “We go to every C-Section,” he explained. “Rather it’s a primary or secondary C-Section, we go to all of them.” In addition to going to every C-Section, Newton said he and his team also go to every vaginal birth when the
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baby is premature or if the doctor suspects there may be a problem. “We step in for the Pediatrician,” Newton said. “We are able to intubate the babies, perform CPR on the babies and do the initial assessment.” Although the RTs can’t do anything without the doctor’s permission, they are often needed, due to their CPR experience and certification in Neonatal Resuscitation. Through their extensive training and presence in the delivery room, Newton said RTs have had almost a 100 percent success rate with resuscitation. “I had a baby born that was only two pounds that I had to intubate, and I’m happy to say that it was a success,”
Respiratory Therapist Ed Newton stands outside his office with the equipment he takes to every C-Section.
May 2022 | The Post-Searchlight • 33
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There’s no I in this; it’s all teamwork. You as an individual might make a difference, but it’s the team that does the whole thing. Newton exclaimed. Newton did explain that there are some cases where babies come out of the womb with problems that developed in utero. “We’ve had babies come out with no heartbeat and not breathing, and we were able to work with the nurses and we’re able to turn them around, or stabilize them and get them to Phoebe,” Newton said. According to Newton, Phoebe has a close working relationship with MHM’s Respiratory Therapist Department, as they have worked some very serious cases with them. “They (Phoebe) know when they get here that we’ve already done everything we can, and they can just take over what we’ve started,” Newton said. Newton said he was working a delivery, when a baby was born with the intestines on the outside of the body, while the legs and arms were deformed. “Phoebe came down with a Neonatologist and did everything they could after we finished, and as far as I know that baby survived,” Newton shared. Even with 35 years of experience,
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Newton still has a hard time with the cases he wasn’t successful in for whatever reason. “They may have passed in utero, but we still try to get them at out and do chest compressions and intubate them, but if it doesn’t work it really bothers the whole staff,” Newton lamented. “When it’s an older person in their 80’s and 90’s, they have lived a good life and you know it was their time, but when it’s a newborn you take it personally.” According to Newton, when this does happen, the RTs all gather together and discuss what could have been done differently and would it have made a difference. In addition, the team reviews what happened to the baby in utero that they possibly had no control over. “We just want to know we did all we could,” he said. Newton has also had babies come through the ER with SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), and despite his best efforts, he just had no control over the outcome. Sometimes, even if the baby doesn’t survive, Newton is still able to give life to
the child long enough to let the parents meet them, which is something the parents will forever remember. One particular birth Newton still can recount was when he went to a C-Section for a baby girl born with no brain, as her skull had sunken in. Newton knew the baby could not survive, despite it being full term, but wanted to give the parents an opportunity to have 30 minutes to hold her. This experience, along with countless others, allowed Newton to improve his skills, eventually leading to far more success stories. “We will have parents come up to us years later and share their kids are now doing fine, thanks to our team,” Newton said. While Newton does not consider himself a hero and said he’s just doing his job, he said it wouldn’t be possible to even have the success he’s had without his team. “There’s no I in this; it’s all teamwork,” he said. “You as an individual might make a difference, but it’s the team that does the whole thing.”
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