HOKE COUNTY, N.C. — In an emergency, seconds could be the difference between life and death.

What You Need To Know

  • The Hoke County sheriff intends to have four deputy medics on duty for each of their work shifts

  • They hope to have the medics fully installed by April or early May

  • They’re getting support from Cape Fear Valley Medical Center

That’s some of the motivation behind a new program in Hoke County. A program that the North Carolina Sheriff’s Association says may be the first of its kind in the state.

It’s called the Deputy Medic Program.

Sheriff's deputies are receiving advanced training to be certified as emergency medical technicians. Two deputies are certified so far. They’re Lee Black and Maria Nawotniak. And they demonstrated that training with a mannequin in a simulated emergency.

“They say in cardiac cases, time is muscle,” Black said. “So this situation … we got here first. Because we were already on the road. We were in the area. We arrived on scene. We got to him. We accessed him. Was able to go ahead and get him on oxygen. Get medications in him.”

The idea for this originated with Hoke County Sheriff Roderick Virgil. Along with being the county sheriff, he is also a flight medic.

“My desire … my passion is that this will go throughout the nation. And other counties and entities will implement this,” Virgil said.

More than 60,000 people live in Hoke County. The deputy medics will carry basic medical equipment in their patrol cars, and those vehicles will have both blue lights and red lights to signify their dual training.