It is with great honor that I bring you the 10 local heroes who will be honored by the American Red Cross of Summit, Portage and Medina Counties for their bravery and heroism during its annual Acts of Courage event Thursday.
All of the honorees, including a 9-year-old boy, are being recognized for saving lives.
The 2016 Acts of Courage Honorees are:
• Colin Blues, 9, of Rootstown. Weston Bauer, a self-described class clown, was throwing cheese puffs into the air and catching them in his mouth during a classmate’s birthday party. A piece became lodged in his throat and stopped his breathing.
When he motioned to nearby children that he was choking, they thought he was joking. But Colin rushed to Weston and performed quick abdominal thrusts, the kind he had seen on a safety poster in the lunchroom at school. The puff was ejected from Weston’s mouth.
• Kelli Chronister of Akron. Chronister was behind a man who fell off his bike during the Sweet Corn Challenge ride. She recognized he was in a full-arrest heart attack and started CPR. When emergency medical technicians arrived, they used a defibrillator. The 52-year-old victim later learned that he had a serious heart condition that required surgery.
The emergency crew said that without the immediate help given by Chronister and others, the man would have died.
• Carolyn Hanson and Kristin Dowling of Stow. Hanson woke with a backache on the morning of Dec. 30, 2014, and her husband suggested that they take a walk to work out the kinks.
They met up with David Dluzyn, a neighbor who had just finished his morning run. As they were talking, Dluzyn collapsed. The couple called 911 and Carolyn began CPR.
Neighbor Dowling also came to help. Dowling, who had received Red Cross training as a lifeguard, and Hanson performed compressions until paramedics arrived.
• Postal worker Kizzy Spaulding of Akron. As Spaulding walked her East Akron mail route, an unusual smell permeated the neighborhood. She noticed that one of her clients was not working in her yard, as was her daily routine. Spaulding opened the woman’s mail slot and peeked through. She thought the smell was coming from inside the home, and she could see the elderly woman on the couch, holding her head.
Spaulding called to the woman, who did not respond. Spaulding pushed open the door, carried the woman outside, called 911 and doused the smoking stove.
Once first responders arrived, Spaulding scooped up her mail pouch and returned to her route.
• Scott Nelson and Bob Moore of Akron. It was well below freezing in January 2015, when Nelson and Moore were getting a bite to eat at a lounge on the Ohio & Erie Canal.
A woman rushed inside, shouting that there was a man in the frozen canal. The two men went out and found the lounge owner’s dog, Sam, on the shoreline, wet and barking. The owner, Stephen Riser, had fallen in while trying to rescue the pup.
Nelson waded in, while Moore retrieved a long extension cord from the car to help pull Riser from the icy water.
• Ashley Feldman of Twinsburg. Feldman was on her way to work when she noticed something in an open field near a dog park. She discovered it was an elderly man who had gone to the park with his pooch, lost his footing in the deep snow and was unable to pull himself up.
Though not dressed for the frigid temperatures, Feldman rushed to help him. He confided that he had been lying there for 45 minutes.
• Edward Kocsis Jr. of Akron. As Kocsis and his fiancee were sitting at a red light, he spotted a car that seemed intent on rear-ending him. At the last moment, the car veered away. As the car drove past, Kocsis noticed that the driver was slumped over. The vehicle hit a telephone pole and rolled.
The driver’s door was crushed. Kocsis could see that his head was injured and smelled something burning from liquid leaking on the hot engine. Carefully, he climbed in and pulled the bloody man out of the car. Kocsis sat with him, cradling his head, until first responders arrived.
• Brandon Bridgewater of Windham. Three days into his career as a full-time Windham police officer, Bridgewater was first on the scene of an apartment fire. He went through the building pounding on doors to wake residents. Inside one apartment, a mother and small child turned back for another child who was upstairs. Bridgewater ran into the smoke-filled apartment and carried the second child out.
In addition to recognizing heroism of area residents, the American Red Cross of Summit, Portage and Medina Counties will present the H. Peter Burg Award to Leonard Foster of Akron for demonstrating a lifelong commitment to humanitarian causes, charitable organizations and the vitality and welfare of the local community.
While the event is sold out, I knew you would want to learn about these heroes. It’s good to know that our neighbors are doing extraordinary things to save the lives of friends and strangers.
Over the years, I’ve learned of countless unsung heroes. I firmly believe that we are a community of givers and heroes. Thank you for what you do.
Kim Hone-McMahan can be reached at 330-996-3742 or kmcmahan@thebeaconjournal.com.Find her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/kim.honemcmahan1.