(April 21, 2026) – Police Chief Brian Gill shared a story of a young life saved at this week’s Select Board meeting.
On Monday April 6th, a 911 call came into the Ayer-Shirley regional dispatch center around 1:30 p.m. The dispatch center is located at the Ayer Police Station on Park Street, but receives calls for both communities. A dispatcher named Matt answered the phone.
He found himself speaking to a frantic caregiver who was calling from Shirley. The worst had happened: a toddler had fallen into a small pond in a backyard. The child was drowning, was unconscious.
Chief Gill explained that the dispatch center had started emergency medical dispatching over the past several years, where dispatchers start giving medical instructions right over the phone.
So the dispatcher began giving the caretaker instructions on how to perform CPR over the phone. The caregiver didn’t have this training. Matt explained he could walk them through. Meanwhile, Matt’s partner was working in the background.
The child began coming to. The dispatcher remained on the line, then officers and EMS arrived. The dispatch center went onto coordinate a medical helicopter, which took off from the Ayer-Shirley Middle School. Chief Gill said the toddler is expected to make a 100 percent recovery.
Chief Gill presented the dispatcher with a certificate of accommodation and a lifesaving award and pin. The dispatcher said he stayed calm the best he could and was thankful for the strong partners he had.
“Thank you to you and all your team,” Select Board Chair Jannice Livingston said. “Again, this stresses the importance of teamwork and how everyone needs to know where they’re supposed to go when something happens.”
“What you did was heroic,” Select Board member Chris Tavares said. “It goes along with what we always say: we have the utmost trust and belief in all first responders in Ayer.”