Sergeant Nathan Nogueras with the Alexandria Police Department was recognized with the “Excellence in Service” Award at Thursday’s city council meeting for saving a fellow citizen’s life.
On Aug. 19, Nogueras assisted the Camp Springs Fire Department with a call for a woman who was down with an unknown problem.
Alexandria Police Chief Lucas Cooper recounted the day during the meeting. He said Nogueras was the first to arrive on the scene and was directed to an upstairs bedroom where he found a woman unresponsive and her husband performing CPR. Cooper said Nogueras maintained his composure while talking to the husband to gather relevant information and relay that to the responding units.
Once he relayed all relevant information to the responding medical units, he relieved the patient’s husband and began CPR. He continually monitored the patient for signs of recovery and administered CPR as needed. He did this until medical units could administer a shock with an automated external defibrillator. The patient began to show signs of improvement and was transported to the hospital.
Cooper said he received a call from Captain Eric Noble with the Camp Springs Fire Department the following morning that the woman survived and was doing well.
“Captain Noble said that this would not be the case were it not for the actions of Sergeant Nogueras and the patient’s husband,” Cooper said.
The woman that Nogueras helped save was in attendance at the meeting with her husband, and Nogueras called her up to stand with him as he addressed the crowd.
“We come out every day we do this job; we don’t do this for the rewards,” he said. “We have incidents like this that occur that make this job completely worth it and tell everyone this is the most rewarding job that you could ever do.
“I didn’t do this by myself. With the help of our Campbell County dispatch center, her husband, who freaking did an amazing job administering CPR, and then the medics showed up. I was just a small puzzle piece to the great results that happened at the end of it, so I’m so happy she’s here with us today.”
Cooper said Nogueras goes above and beyond his duties, and the department is grateful to have him.
“He exemplified the values of our agency by acting with excellence and prioritizing human life,” Cooper said. “Congratulations to Sergeant Nogueras.”
Nogueras has been with the department since 2019, where he has worked his way up to the rank of sergeant. In his second year with the department, he was named Employee of the Year. Cooper said that this was the second time Nogueras had successfully administered CPR since he came to the department and had also delivered two babies in that time.