At a short meeting of the Brown County Commissioners Court, honor and recognition was given to the First Responders of the fourth quarter of 2023. Rebecca Mendez and Boyd Hale, employees of Lifeguard EMS, happened upon a fatal traffic accident west of Cross Plains. One person in the vehicle was still alive. Mendez and Hale extracted that person from the vehicle and quickly transported to Abilene, which saved the person’s life. The full text of the Commissioners “4th Quarter 2023 First Responder Recognition” is below.
In other business:
*** Approved a request from Sheriff Vance Hill to enter into a contract with Diamond Pharmacy to supply prescription drugs for County Jail inmates. Previously the Commissioners had approved joining the 791 Co-op, a necessary step to do business with Diamond. Today’s action approved the contract with Diamond. Hill expects better service and lower cost from Diamond.
*** Approved a request from Sheriff Hill to enter a contractual agreement with eBONDS. Hill said eBONDS will work with the local bail-bond companies to provide bonds to the Sheriff’s Department electronically, thus preventing the need for someone from the bond companies to physically take a printed copy of the bond to the Department. There will be an additional fee of $10 for the electronic bond, which will be billed to the bond company’s customer.
*** Approved the installation of a private phone line on County Road 478 by Windstream/Melvin Fecher.
4th Quarter 2023 First Responder Recognition
Rebecca Mendez – Lifeguard EMS and Lake Brownwood Bridge Volunteer Fire Department
Boyd Hale – Lifeguard EMS
In the month of December 2023 Rebecca Mendez and her partner Boyd Hale were coming back from Abilene from a transfer. They came upon an accident west of Cross Plains, the car was upside down with 2 fatalities. There was another person in the vehicle that was upside down. They pried the door open, cut the seat belt and extracted the person from the vehicle before any other responders arrived. The Callahan County deputy showed up and released them to take the patient to Abilene before anyone else arrived. The patient survived because of their fast actions. Rebecca Mendez is also a volunteer for the Lake Brownwood Fire Department at the Bridge. She not only works for Lifeguard but volunteers her time off to the fire department going on medicals, accidents, rescues and fires to help her community. She is always there when we need her and always wants to learn more.
There were numerous First Responders nominated from many different response entities in Brown County and want them all to know that each responder is an important part of providing the citizens of Brown County with the best and most compassionate public service.