PULSE Magazine | June/July 2019 Issue

The ATCEMS Outstanding Citizen Award honors our citizen heroes by recognizing and acknowledging their Good Samaritan efforts through their courage and willingness to help a fellow citizen in need. The award is presented to persons who initiate lifesaving (bystander) CPR or provide help to others through an extraordinary act of courage, kindness or compassion. ATCEMS recently presented two local citizens with the award: Amy Gaither “Amy Gaither, an off duty school nurse, performed CPR on a patient at a local restaurant. The patient had collapsed in the parking lot, was blue and not breathing due to choking on a large piece of meat. Amy performed 2-3 rounds of CPR and the food dislodged. If not for her actions the patient would have had a much worse outcome.” Commander Keith Noble Nicholas Ellis Nicholas Ellis was driving down IH-35 at 1:00 in the morning when he came upon a truck that apparently just had an accident under the bridge near Manor Rd. Nick thought he saw flames coming from the truck and pulled over to help. When he got out of his car he realized the driver was still in the truck. Nick did not hesitate, he ran over to the truck and started to pry the door open with his bare hands to get the driver out of the vehicle. A couple of other bystanders ran to the truck to help him and together they got the door open, Nick helped the driver out of the vehicle to safety just moments before the car was fully engulfed in flames. “The bystander’s (Nick) intervention unquestionably changed the outcome for the patient and his family.” Commander Eric Richter

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