Dear Editor,

On Friday, Sept. 2, I had the occasion to come into contact withBrookhaven police Officer Bryan Cavin. What made this encounterunique was that it took place while myself and several othermembers of our company were in the process of evacuating a hospitalin Slidell, La. As I am sure you are aware, Katrina left manypeople with less than normal lives. As a company, we decided it wasour duty and obligation to pitch in and do what we could, and thisturned out to be the task I earlier mentioned.

While in the process of completing this task, obtaining fuelbecame an increasing problem with every trip we made to and fromthe Slidell area. This night was our second trip, an we discoveredon our return trip to Memphis that we were indeed not going to makeit to the Jackson area for fuel. At this time, we had fiveacute-care patients aboard three ambulances that could not havetolerated being left on the side of the interstate while we waitedfor fuel from God knows what source.

When we neared your town, I decided to take a chance and exit inthe hopes of finding fuel from someone. As I exited, I found yourofficer Mr. Cavin directing traffic at a fuel center. I spoke withOfficer Cavin and advised him of the critical situation we were in.Officer Cavin immediately took charge and moved me to a safelocation while he began making inquiries with regard to thesituation. In a very short time, Officer Cavin not only found thefuel we needed to complete our mission but also remained with us,giving us a direct escort to the fuel stop as well as back to thenecessary exit to get us on our way to Memphis.

I have found that Hurricane Katrina as well as many othernatural and manmade disasters tend to bring out the “extra mile” ina lot of us. In this scenario, it is certainly true of yourofficer. If he had not committed himself to resolving our problem,I honestly do not know what we would have done or what our outcomewould have been. Officer Cavin took the call of duty and not onlyrose to the challenge but also went far above and beyond. It isbecause of people such as your Officer Cavin that we are able tomake a difference in the lives of people with such great need.

It is my sincere hope that Officer Cavin will be recognized forhis efforts with regard to this situation. Without his help on thisnight, the outcome could have been nothing less than adisaster.

Jimmy W. Hart,

Director of operations

EMHC Ambulance Service

Memphis, Tenn.