July 18 is one for the books for a Twinsburg police officer who helped save the lives of two individuals hours apart.

Officer Olivia Bartulovic, who will have been with the Twinsburg Police Department for three years in September, said the first call came in the middle of the afternoon to assist a local business where a man was in cardiac arrest.

When officers arrived, the man was unresponsive and a co-worker was already performing CPR, said Bartulovic, a 2015 graduate from Twinsburg High School. She took over CPR until fire department personnel arrived and helped them get a chest compression machine on the patient. The fire department told her later than they were able to stabilize him and get him to the hospital.

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Hours later, at around 7:45 p.m., the police department was called to a local residence. During dinner, a man had slid off his chair and started to turn blue. His wife was adminstering CPR when officers arrived. Bartulovic said she worked to calm the woman down and continued with CPR until the city EMTs arrived. She said she again helped the fire department to apply the chest compression machine By the time EMTs were loading the patient into the ambulance, Bartulovic said the man "was alert and talking."

Bartulovic said the events of that shift were "definitely out of the norm."

"We wouldn't have been able to accomplish what we accomplished if it weren't for the team effort," she said. "I'm blessed to work with the men and women I work with."

Bartulovic, who said she is the first police officer in her family, was drawn to the line of work by the sacrifice of another Twinsburg officer.

"When Joshua Miktarian was killed in 2008, I was 11," she said. "I remember the moment I found out. I knew then I wanted to be a police officer, to finish what he didn't get to."

Patrolman and K-9 officer Miktarian was killed in the line of duty July 13, 2008 during a routine traffic stop on Glenwood Drive at 2 a.m. Miktarian had been with the Twinsburg police department for 11 years. He also worked part-time for the Uniontown Police Department and owned a Gionino's pizza restaurant. The shooter, Ashford Thompson, was convicted in 2010 of aggravated murder and remains on Ohio's death row.

Bartulovic graduated in 2019 from The University of Mount Union, with a major in criminal justice.

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Bartulovic's said she enjoys the chance to interact with the community through her workis one favorite aspects of being an officer include "interacting with my community."

"Shooting basketball with the kids, stopping at a lemonade stand, those are my favorite parts," she said.

According to information from the American Red Cross, there are more than 500,000 cardiac arrests on average every year. Heart attack symptons include:

Reporter April Helms can be reached at ahelms@jmackinnon