Contact: Sammy McDavid
At a Division of Student Affairs program Wednesday, February 7, Mississippi State will honor University Police Officers Robert D. Edwards and Virginia Rich for their quick response late last year to the medical emergency of 73-year-old John K. Estes of Shannon. Each will receive life saving medals for administrating emergency measures to Mr. Estes following his November 30 heart attack on campus.
The awards ceremony will take place shortly after the 9 a.m. beginning of a Division of Student Affairs semester staff meeting in the Colvard Union's third-floor small auditorium. In addition to being honored by MSU, the officers will be presented with Heartsaver Awards by a local representative of the American Heart Association. Mr. Estes and members of his family have been invited and are expected to attend.
A truck driver, Mr. Estes was operating a tractor-trailer rig that brought a load of material to a campus construction site. After unhooking the trailer load, he was leaving campus around 4 p.m. when the heart attack occurred. Officers Edwards and Rich were the first to respond to a police department report of a vehicle stalled in the triangular traffic island at the intersection of East Lee Boulevard and Hardy Road, both major campus thoroughfares.
After receiving the assistance of bystanders in removing the now-unconscious driver from his vehicle, Officers Edwards and Rich began administering mouth-to-mouth cardiopulmonary resuscitation procedures. When those efforts were unsuccessful, they employed an automated external defibrillator that has been standard equipment in MSU police vehicles for the past several years. According to medical authorities, the actions of the two officers saved Mr. Estes' life.
After being taken to Oktibbeha County Hospital, Mr. Estes was transferred to the North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo, where his recovery continued.
Please consider this our invitation to you or your representative to attend the brief awards ceremony. While the Student Affairs staff meeting continues in the auditorium, Officers Edwards and Rich, Mr. Estes, MSU Police Chief Tom Johnson, and others involved will be available in the nearby union art lounge for any follow-up information you may need. We hope to see you there.