Published Nov. 26, 1994 in the Times Leader

Dispatcher's sudden death shock to co-workers

Times Leader Staff Report

PRINCETON — The unexpected death of a young dispatcher Wednesday morning dealt a hard blow to the people who respond to emergencies in the community. Flags were flying at half staff and personnel from Hopkinsville and Eddyville will provide local emergency response this morning while Roxanna Aldridge's co-workers attend her funeral.

Aldridge died shortly after 10 a.m. in the emergency room of Caldwell County Hospital. Her death came just two weeks before her 20th birthday.

Central Dispatch Supervisor Shera Mason answered the call for emergency help at Aldridge's home on the Sandlick Road at 8:57 a.m. It coincided with emergency traffic to an accident on the West Kentucky Parkway.

Aldridge, who had worked a shift at Central Dispatch the night before, was at home with her mother, twin sister and younger brother, when she heard the call to the accident. A member of the Caldwell County Rescue Squad, she was responding to give her help when she was stricken and fell unconscious, never to recover.

"They said she was on her way to the car wreck and the next thing they knew, she was on the ground," said Mason.

With one ambulance and the rescue squad enroute to the wreck scene, Mason dispatched another ambulance to the home of her co-worker.

"I still can't believe it. That's the first time I've ever had to dispatch an ambulance to someone that close to me. I always thought if I ever did that it would be for my husband, Gerald, who is a firefighter," she said.

First to arrive at Aldridge's home with emergency assistance were Princeton police officers John Dunning and L.D. Robertson. "We started CPR until the ambulance arrived," said Duning. "L.D. was doing the CPR, and I was giving breaths. Then Don Darnell arrived to help and then the ambulance."

Dunning said he and Robertson were in the police station when the call came in. "L.D. wasn't on duty, but I said, 'Come on, let's go!' because I knew we could get there first."

Mason said the ambulance was on the scene at 9:04 a.m. and arrived at the hospital at 9:19 a.m. About an hour later, Aldridge was pronounced dead.

Coroner Eddie Pennington said the results of an autopsy determined that the 19-year-old dispatcher died of a bilateral pulmonary emboli -- in layman's terms, a blood clot.

There was no prior medical history to indicate a problem, said the coroner. "This is the kind of thing that is very sudden, and it can happen to anybody."

Mayor Sherman Chaudoin said the death of the young dispatcher was "a significant loss to the community."

He said Aldridge had worked as a dispatcher with Pennyrile Emergency Assistance Center since May 1993. "Although they receive virtually no public recognition for their efforts, our dispatchers work day after day to make our entire community a safer place to live."

To recognize the contribution that Aldridge made to the public safety in the entire community, Judge-Executive Van Knight and Mayor Sherman Chaudoin jointly ordered the flags at the courthouse and on city buildings to be flown at half staff until the morning following her burial.

The mayor and judge, in a joint statement said, "It would be impossible to guess how many lives have been saved in Caldwell County as a direct result of the cool and efficient manner in which Roxanna has handled emergency 911 calls reporting heart attacks, serious injury accidents and other life-threatening situations since she has been a dispatcher.

"There are only a few people who, due to the nature of their jobs, make a real difference in the quality of our everyday lives. Roxanna Aldridge was one of those persons.

"The citizens of our entire community certainly mourn her passing and extend our heartfelt sympathy to her family and friends."

Aldridge was a certified telecommunications operator and certified LINK/NCIC operator.

Her face was a familiar one at the police department and dispatch center before she was employed. She was a member of the Police Explorer's Post 104.

A '92 graduate of Caldwell County High School, Aldridge was a student at Hopkinsville Community College, where she was pursuing studies in criminology.

She planned her life's work in the law enforcement field and some of the men who will serve as pallbearers for the funeral are police officers.

"She liked law enforcement and just wanted to do anything that she could in the law enforcement field," said Mason.

"This is just going to be a big hole for us. Roxanna was young and full of energy and brightened up the place. She was good at her job; she could think quickly and was really good at dispatching," said Mason.

She said she feels the loss of her co-worker professionally and personally.

Dispatcher Ruth White, who came in to relieve Mason after the tragedy Wednesday morning echoed that sentiment.

[The remainder of our copy of this newspaper article is unreadable.]

ROXANNA LYNN ALDRIDGE

PRINCETON, Ky — Roxanna Lynn Aldridge, 19, Princeton, died unexpectedly at 10:17 a.m. Wednesday at Caldwell County Hospital of a pulmonary embolus.

Services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Morgan's Funeral Home, Princeton, with burial in Utica Baptist Church Cemetery, Daviess County.

Visitation will be from 4 to 9 tonight at the funeral home.

A native of Daviess County, she was born Dec. 7, 1974, daughter of Catherine Beard Cornish, Princeton, and the late Ernest Aldridge. She was a dispatcher for the Pennyrile Emergency Operations Center and a full-time student at Hopkinsville Community College.

Survivors, in addition to her mother, include a maternal grandmother, Effie Beard, Owensboro; paternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. James Aldridge, Utica; a maternal great-grandmother, Rosa Swartz, Tell City, Ind.; a brother, Robert Cornish Jr., Princeton; and a sister, Crystal Aldridge, Princeton.

KENTUCKY EMS MEMORIAL

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