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American Red Cross Honors Northwest's Real Heroes
(March 15, 2010) | 
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| BREMERTON, Wash. (NNS) -- The American Red Cross held its
11th annual Real Heroes Breakfast to honor 20 military and
civilian personnel for their heroic acts and humanitarian
efforts with a breakfast and awards ceremony March 9.
More than 300 people from various organizations gathered
together at the Kitsap Conference Center in Bremerton, Wash.
to honor those being awarded.
Naval Hospital Bremerton (NHB) received the 2010 American
Red Cross Commitment to Community Award for their
involvement in humanitarian aid and disaster response
missions, earthquake and tsunami relief efforts, multiple
deployments and support of the local community through
numerous volunteer projects.
"Our community is one that really pulls together," said
Janet Heath, West Sound director at American Red Cross
serving King and Kitsap counties. "It takes a lot of
organizations to create a safety net, whether it is the
military or non-profit organizations. We acknowledge Naval
Hospital Bremerton because they not only are supporting us
in warzones, but they are helping the community too. It's
really about neighbors and community working together and I
think that is what makes this a great county to be."
Cmdr. George Suther and Equipment Operator 2nd Class (SW/AW)
Steve Buckner were named the American Red Cross Real Heroes
in Workplace Preparedness for their efforts in performing
cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on Donna Burt, an
operations assistant at Naval Base Kitsap Public Works
acquisition department, after she went into cardiac arrest
March 2009. Suther and Buckner continued CPR until medics
arrived and used automated external defibrillation to
restart her heart.
"What mattered to me the most is that [they] gave me the
comfort of knowing [they were] willing to help me," said
Burt. "Everyone in the office did something to help. Red
Cross also has really affordable effective training, so I
encourage anyone to learn it. You may never know when you
might need it."
Although not expecting the outward praise and recognition,
Buckner, currently assigned to Construction Battalion Mobile
Unit 303 Detachment Bangor, said he was grateful most of all
that his efforts helped save a life.
"I don't think there was a single person here there doing
this for recognition," said Buckner. "This was all very
unexpected for me, and it's still soaking in. This brought
back the memories of Donna's incident, but I'm happy she is
doing all right; that's the biggest thing to me because
everything worked out all right."
Navy Region Northwest Fire and Emergency Services' personnel
Randy Hyde, Scott Berry, Shane C. Reed, Jeremy Huston and
Matt Camier received the 2010 American Red Cross Real Heroes
in Emergency Response Award for saving the life of a
contractor who was pinned between an I-beam pier piling and
a pillar after the 15-ton pillar fell from a crane, crushing
her. The contractor lost her leg in the accident, but thanks
to the efforts of these men, is alive.
"Today's ceremony is the community's way of personally
paying our respects to the people who stepped in and did the
right thing at the right time, whether they had Red Cross
training or not," said Heath. "It's also our way of
recognizing our community partners, law enforcement, the
fire departments and other responders making sure their
efforts are front and center and noticed by the community." | |
By Navy MCS 2nd Class Scott Dagendesh
Navy Public Affairs Support Element Det., Northwest
Copyright 2010
Reprinted from
Navy News Service
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