It was just before daylight at AvantGuard Central Station when Skyler answered a medical call that came in from a PERS device in the eastern United States. The gentleman on the other end of the two-way call confessed that he was very depressed and wanted to take his life.
Skyler had never taken this kind of call before, but said later, "I really wanted to get this man help as quickly as possible. I put him on hold for just a few moments while I dispatched help. But when I came back to the customer just a minute or so later, I realized that he was was no longer on the line.”
"My next thought,” reflected Skyler, "was to look up a local suicide hotline and call the customer back with the number. But Chazz, another team member on my shift, had just come back from a break and overheard a bit of my conversation with dispatch.”
The two quickly decided to work as a team. Skyler would call contacts to notify them, and Chazz would call back the customer and stay on the line with him until help arrived.
"I was so impressed with the way Chazz listened calmly to the man and let him talk.” commented Skyler, "Occasionally Chazz would ask a question and empathize as they waited together. It was just great to hear how well Chazz handled the conversation.”
"As I listened to the gentleman talk,” remarked Chazz, "He mentioned that the only reason he hadn’t taken action in his depressed state was because he had a dog. He didn’t want the dog to be left alone.”
Remarkably, Chazz has several hundred hours of training through the sheriff’s department that prepared him to talk with people who are struggling with thoughts of suicide.
"I‘ve been volunteering for a long time and put in about 180 hours a year. When the need arises,” Chazz continued, "like it did that morning with the call Skyler answered, my training just kicks in. I don’t give any medical advice, but I know how to listen and direct the conversation to maintain a calm atmosphere.” Chazz stayed on the line until with the customer until he heard police arrive.
AvantGuard and its PERS dealers want to express gratitude to these two young men who encountered an emergency and worked as a team to get one of our customers the help that he needed. Their actions that early morning were undoubtedly heroic.
