By Joni Simon
Contributing Writer

In a room full of people who were educated in an era before school shootings and 9/11, Craig Radtke, Boerne Independent School District director of personnel and legal affairs, told the Boerne school board the district’s high tech equipment is already saving lives.

This past summer, the district employed a Nextel radio and Blackberry system, distributing the instruments to mostly administrators, nurses and custodians. In an emergency, Radtke said, communication is everything.

“We learned that from Columbine. Communication. Communication, Communication. That’s the key,” he told the board. “When Columbine occurred, nobody could talk to one another, which was fatal.”

Just one day after the board meeting, a student had a massive seizure that lasted about 40 minutes. A nurse arrived on the scene at the campus where the girl is a student.

“She took along with her an automated external defibrillator (AED) and all her medical equipment. She used her Nextel radio to do a one-button call to the nurse who had the student before,” Radtke said. “That nurse had a great deal of experience with the student’s medical and seizure history. For a good deal of time, one nurse had instantaneous communication with the previous nurse and that previous nurse gave her guidance and medical instruction about how to handle and address the seizure. I think that was very beneficial in helping the girl get the right treatment and perhaps saving her life until EMS arrived at the scene. It’s extraordinary. We’re very proud of that.”

This wasn’t the first time new high tech equipment saved someone’s life, Radtke said. Having an AED on hand was the difference between life and death during an incident that occurred on March 7, 2006, after a high school varsity baseball game.

“It was here in Boerne. The game ended and very shortly after, the home plate umpire collapsed when he was walking off the field,” Radtke said. “He was suffering a massive heart attack. His name is Robert Hicks.”

BISD had already been well into implementing and deploying AEDs throughout the district by then, according to Radtke. The trainers had one in the home dugout.

“They immediately brought it to Mr. Hicks. By the grace of God, there was a cardiologist in the stand, who had come to watch his son play,” he said. “He came out of the stands to assist. Our trainers brought the AED. The AED shocked the umpire twice and revived him. He lives to this day.”

The Texas State Legislature currently requires that each campus have at least one AED, but Radtke said BISD is being “very progressive and proactive” and is implementing more than the law dictates.

The district has finished deploying 26 AEDs, including an AED going to each home and away athletic game.

“This is unprecedented, in my opinion in Texas, but after the saving of Mr. Hicks, the umpire’s life, there are no parents, no taxpayer, no community member, who will ever criticize the success that we have or the safety that we’re providing students, because if it saves another person’s life, especially if it’s a student’s life, I can’t tell you how satisfying and rewarding that will be for the parent and for us as well,” he said.

In addition, Radtke says the district is working on a system to identify students when they’re off campus in case of a bus accident.