Hometown Heroes Honored with Certificates of Merit at Heroes Kick-off Luncheon
03/04/2010

2010 American Red Cross Hometown HEROES

 Transcript from the Luncheon Presentation

 

Hero Gary Cousins

On July 22nd, 2009, in a hard rain storm, Mr. R. Dale Cassiday and Mr. Gary Cousins had delivered their wives to the Bloomington Target store entrance and then parked their vehicles before approaching the store themselves.  Mr. Cassiday suffered sudden cardiac arrest as he approached the entrance of the store.  Mr. Cousins rounded the corner of the building to find Mr. Cassiday collapsed and unconscious on the sidewalk and directed a bystander to notify the store personnel and to have 911 called.  He immediately began providing CPR for Mr. Cassiday and continued to do so for more than 15 minutes until emergency medical personnel relieved him. Ms. Noel Cross, a recent EMT school graduate and Target employee, along with Target employee Ken Petro provided support by calling 911, arranging crowd control, and providing umbrellas and cloth merchandise from the store to keep Mr. Cassiday as dry as possible in anticipation of the use of an AED.  Two shocks with an AED were administered before Mr. Cassiday was transported to Bloomington Hospital.  Mr. Cassiday received a pacemaker during his hospitalization and was discharged.

It is our pleasure to present to Mr. Gary Cousins the American Red Cross Certificate of Merit signed by the President of the United States.

 

 

Heroes Kathleen Stonier & Autumn Johnson

On November 28, 2009, Mr. Todd Wilkerson collapsed due to a pulmonary embolism at his place of business, Doggie Styles, located in the southwest corner of the White River Co-op building in the presence of his wife, Lori, and friend and customer Kathleen Stonier.  Mr. Todd was non-responsive and showed no signs of life in the time it took Kathleen to cross the small room.  Kathleen moved Todd to the floor, directed Lori to call 911, and initiated CPR.  Todd showed no signs of life after 5 minutes and Kathleen continued CPR and asked Lori to call 911 again.  Autumn Johnson, White River Co-op employee and wife of Greene County Fire Chief, responded to the scene having heard of the incident on her husband's scanner.  She arrived at the same time as the police just minutes before the Ambulance Service.  These First Responders relieved Kathleen.  Autumn provided the chest compressions for Todd while EMS was ventilating him and using their AED.  Autumn drove Lori to the hospital to spare her riding in the ambulance.  Todd was hospitalized less than 1 week and is doing well.
It is with great pleasure that we present the American Red Cross Certificate of Merit to Mrs. Kathleen Stonier and the Certificate of Outstanding Personal Action to Mrs. Autumn Johnson.

 

 

Heroes Staff Team at Hylant Group

On November 12, 2009, Teresa James was dealing with a severely bleeding nose while at work at Hylant Insurance Group.  She attempted to control the bleeding herself using a lifetime of accumulated experience, but was unsuccessful. By the end of her lunch time the bleeding had worsened and she notified her supervisor of why she was not at her position.  Her supervisor, Teresa Underwood, saw the volume of blood on Teresa James arms and the rate of blood flow and immediately called for the company responders, Jacqueline Robertson and Kimberly Baxter who were joined by Karen Crosby.  The team worked to control and contain the blood flow as they treated Teresa and then transported her to Bloomington hospital.  The diagnosis was a tear in Teresa's septum and cauterization was advised.
It is a pleasure to present to Jacqueline Robertson, Kimberly Baxter the American Red Cross National Lifesaving Award for the Professional Responder, and Karen Crosby the American Red Cross Certificate of Merit.

 

 

Heroes at Student Recreational Sports Center at IU

On January 11, 2010, Indiana University students had returned to the Bloomington campus for the spring semester.  Kerri Richardson was on duty at the point of entry to the IU Student Recreational Sports Center at approximately 10:30am when a student notified her that someone had collapsed on the indoor track and seemed to be unconscious.  Kerri radioed "Code Red" to initiate system-wide response.  She also notified the Strength & Conditioning area (Kenny Lowe) since his area is closest to the track. Kerri then took the AED from the Member Services area and proceeded to the scene joining Kenny Lowe.  Kenny had assessed the scene and the victim and had taken control of the crowd.  Kerri Richardson and Sam Neher arrived at the scene less than one minute after Kenny Lowe's arrival, and Sam Neher took charge.  He initiated chest compressions, assigned Kerri to keep the airway clear and provide rescue breaths, and had Kenny prepare the AED.  The team provided CPR as IUPD arrived, followed by the Bloomington Fire Department and BHAS.  Sam Neher accompanied Louis as far as the ambulance.  After a couple days of treatment at Bloomington Hospital, Louis was strong enough to have a pacemaker and defibrillator implanted.  Louis spent a few days at his home recovering and then returned to classes at Indiana University.
It is with great pleasure that we present to Sam Neher, Kenny Lowe, and Kerri Richardson the American Red Cross National Life Saving Award for the Professional Responder.