The Troup County school board Thursday honored the first responder team at Berta Weathersbee Elementary School for possibly saving a school volunteer’s life.

Gordon Schaetzel, 77, a volunteer from First Presbyterian Church, had just signed out April 15 after his usual 90 minutes of weekly tutoring when he became faint and fell backward in the school’s front lobby, unconscious.

He woke up a few minutes later and was looking at secretary Kristy Atterberry, a member of the first responder team. She had felt for a pulse, but couldn’t find one, and saw he was losing color in the face. She administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation until an ambulance arrived, realizing she couldn’t use an automated external defibrillator because Schaetzel had a pacemaker with a built-in defibrillator.

In accordance with procedure, all the classes were locked down so students wouldn’t see someone go out on a stretcher, and the ambulance came without using a siren.

“I don’t have enough praise for Berta Weathersbee,” Schaetzel said. “It’s a wonderful little school with wonderful people.”

He spent two-and-a-half days at West Georgia Medical Center.

“Apparently I had a sudden drop in blood pressure” that went beyond the parameters of his defibrillator, Schaetzel said. The next day, someone from the electro-physiology department at Emory Hospital readjusted the unit, so if it happens again, it will kick in sooner.

The Berta Weathersbee team “knew what had to be done,” said Assistant Superintendent Bill Parsons, who updated the school system’s emergency response program two years ago and repeated comprehensive training at the start of the current school year to deal with everything from bullying to a flu pandemic.

“The quick and spot-on response by the first responder team is a perfect demonstration of the thorough training and planning put into action,” school system spokesperson Catherine Holmes said, calling Parsons “the driving force behind this phenomenal program.”

Berta’s first responder team includes Atterberry, Kelley Hubbard, Tammy Hurston-Jones, Caroline Sellers, Jason Willis, Bertha Williams and Ann George.

In addition to helping at Berta, Schaetzel also stops by Rosemont Elementary School, which is on his way home, and tutors for another hour each Wednesday.

“I’m very much trying to interest kids in reading,” he said. “It opens up a whole vista to them.”

Schaetzel retired from a Madison Avenue advertising agency and moved to Pine Mountain at the urging of his son. He also had a bum knee and walking up and down the stairs of his Long Island home had become a hassle.

He now has a one-story home with a 2 1/2-acre pond, a two-car garage for his wood-working shop, plus a hot tub and sauna.

After the incident at Berta Weathersbee, Schaetzel said his doctor told him not to drive and he sure doesn’t want to endanger other motorists, but “if I go several months with no episodes, I’m sure he’ll lift the ban.” Meanwhile, “if I get to school, it will be thanks to my wife driving me.”

James Westbrook, this area’s safety school coordinator for the Georgia Emergency Management Agency and Homeland Security, honored the school system and all of its principals Thursday.

Westbrook oversees 26 counties and Troup is one of the four best in school safety initiatives, he said.

Also Thursday, the school board approved a memorandum of agreement with the county Board of Health on dealing with potential medical emergencies, natural disasters or “attacks involving weapons of mass destruction.”

- Agreed to pay $102,491.89 for a new sound system at Troup High’s Fine Arts Auditorium. The contract was awarded to db Audio & Video of Gainesville.

Joel Martin can be reached at jmartin@lagrangenews.com or at 706-884-7311, Ext. 235.