LOCAL HEROES HONORED
By CHANDA NEELY
ELYRIA – Marcus Rouston, 31, did not know if anyone was inside the burning house on Livingston Avenue in Lorain last December, but when he saw the home’s wheelchair ramp he knew there could be someone inside who needed his help. The good Samaritan kicked down the door and found 88-year-old Cecil Vanderpool sleeping in his bed. Rouston and 47 year-old Warren Canon, Jr., of Amherst, carried the elderly man from the burning house to safety.
Canon, Rouston and his wife Maria, 25, along with 11 other local heroes were honored for their life-saving efforts by the American Red Cross of Lorain County this morning at its annual Real Heroes Awards breakfast.
“I saw the smoke coming from the side of the house and I was hoping no one was inside,” said Marcus Rouston, who was driving in the car with his wife Maria when the couple saw the fire. “I’m not a hero. I don’t mind helping people. People sometimes have to help us too.”
Two hundred people looked on as heroes from cities across Lorain County were presented with crystal awards from the Red Cross and certificates from representatives from the offices of Sen. George Voinovich and Congresswoman Betty Sutton at Lorain County Community College’s Spitzer Conference Center Saturday.
“These heroes didn’t fly in from Metropolis or drive the bat mobile in and save the day,” said Bill Lamb, honorary chairman of the Real Heroes Awards breakfast. “The great thing is, they come from our neighborhoods, right down the street from us. You don’t have to be a famous athlete or movie star to be a hero. They’re just like us.”
Grafton police officer Dan Clark was on patrol March 9 when he got the call that a teenager had fallen into the Black River. Kenneth Saunders was clinging to a tree limb after high, rushing waters swept the 17-year-old nearly 500 feet down the river. Clark climbed down a broken tree limb that had fallen into the water and held on to the teen until officer Scott Kilgore and members of the Grafton Village Fire/EMS pulled the two men to safety. The courageous group was honored at the ceremony.
Clemencia Ortega and her three children were asleep in their Gary Avenue, Lorain, home last September when their neighbor Eddie Mendez began pounding on the door. Ortega did not know that her house was on fire. Mendez broke out windows in the home with is bare hands to alert the family. Despite losing everything in the fire, Ortega thanked Mendez at the Real Heroes Awards breakfast for saving her and her children.
Nicholle Gregory, a second-grader at Crestwood Elementary School in Elyria, found her 47-year-old father Donald unconscious, bleeding and in critical condition after he crashed his dirt bike on April 2. Nicholle ran to a local business to get help. Donald Gregory says he is alive today because of the heroic acts of his 7-year-old little girl.
“I’m so proud of her,” said Nicholle’s mother Kelley Gregory. “She really is a good kid. She got her hair cut and a new dress for today.”
Nicholle and 3-year-old Ethan Bozman were given American Red Cross teddy bears with their crystal awards at the Real Heroes breakfast. Ethan and retired millwright Jerry Greer literally saved each other.
Ethan had suffered a seizure on Sept. 21 when his great-grandmother Virginia Williams carried the toddler’s lifeless body in her arms and ran next door to Greer’s house for help. Ethan had no pulse and was not breathing when Greer started CPR. Today, Ethan is doing fine.
One week after Ethan’s seizure, the toddler was playing at Greer’s house when he climbed on the 66-year-old man’s chest. Greer thought Ethan had broken his ribs, but instead doctor’s discovered cancerous polyps on his large intestines. After a successful surgery, Greer is cancer-free and doctor’s said it could have been much worse if Ethan had not helped them find the cancer in time. Ethan and Greer held hands as they accepted their awards together Saturday morning.
Also honored was Wellington firefighter Brian Slack, who initiated CPR and rescue breathing on a man lying unconscious in the street. Slack, who was off-duty, worked on the victim until paramedics arrived and continued working on the man inside the ambulance. When they arrived at the hospital, the man regained a pulse and was breathing on his own.
Violent Kavanaugh, 82, fell in her Oberlin home in March and had been lying badly injured alone on the floor for more than 24 hours before mail carrier Shawn Reed heard her cries for help. Reed wrapped the woman in a blanket and held her hand until help arrived.
Pat Walsh, a counselor at Troy Intermediate School in Avon Lake, was recognized for his efforts in organizing blood drives to help local children battling cancer. William Sellers, who graduated from Elyria Catholic High School in June, has raised more than $1,000 for the American Red Cross Measles Initiative.
Lorain County Community College was also presented with the 2009 Community Hero Award at the Real Heroes Awards breakfast, which raised more than $10,000 for local emergency services.
ELYRIA – Marcus Rouston, 31, did not know if anyone was inside the burning house on Livingston Avenue in Lorain last December, but when he saw the home’s wheelchair ramp he knew there could be someone inside who needed his help. The good Samaritan kicked down the door and found 88-year-old Cecil Vanderpool sleeping in his bed. Rouston and 47 year-old Warren Canon, Jr., of Amherst, carried the elderly man from the burning house to safety.
Canon, Rouston and his wife Maria, 25, along with 11 other local heroes were honored for their life-saving efforts by the American Red Cross of Lorain County this morning at its annual Real Heroes Awards breakfast.
“I saw the smoke coming from the side of the house and I was hoping no one was inside,” said Marcus Rouston, who was driving in the car with his wife Maria when the couple saw the fire. “I’m not a hero. I don’t mind helping people. People sometimes have to help us too.”
Two hundred people looked on as heroes from cities across Lorain County were presented with crystal awards from the Red Cross and certificates from representatives from the offices of Sen. George Voinovich and Congresswoman Betty Sutton at Lorain County Community College’s Spitzer Conference Center Saturday.
“These heroes didn’t fly in from Metropolis or drive the bat mobile in and save the day,” said Bill Lamb, honorary chairman of the Real Heroes Awards breakfast. “The great thing is, they come from our neighborhoods, right down the street from us. You don’t have to be a famous athlete or movie star to be a hero. They’re just like us.”
Grafton police officer Dan Clark was on patrol March 9 when he got the call that a teenager had fallen into the Black River. Kenneth Saunders was clinging to a tree limb after high, rushing waters swept the 17-year-old nearly 500 feet down the river. Clark climbed down a broken tree limb that had fallen into the water and held on to the teen until officer Scott Kilgore and members of the Grafton Village Fire/EMS pulled the two men to safety. The courageous group was honored at the ceremony.
Clemencia Ortega and her three children were asleep in their Gary Avenue, Lorain, home last September when their neighbor Eddie Mendez began pounding on the door. Ortega did not know that her house was on fire. Mendez broke out windows in the home with is bare hands to alert the family. Despite losing everything in the fire, Ortega thanked Mendez at the Real Heroes Awards breakfast for saving her and her children.
Nicholle Gregory, a second-grader at Crestwood Elementary School in Elyria, found her 47-year-old father Donald unconscious, bleeding and in critical condition after he crashed his dirt bike on April 2. Nicholle ran to a local business to get help. Donald Gregory says he is alive today because of the heroic acts of his 7-year-old little girl.
“I’m so proud of her,” said Nicholle’s mother Kelley Gregory. “She really is a good kid. She got her hair cut and a new dress for today.”
Nicholle and 3-year-old Ethan Bozman were given American Red Cross teddy bears with their crystal awards at the Real Heroes breakfast. Ethan and retired millwright Jerry Greer literally saved each other.
Ethan had suffered a seizure on Sept. 21 when his great-grandmother Virginia Williams carried the toddler’s lifeless body in her arms and ran next door to Greer’s house for help. Ethan had no pulse and was not breathing when Greer started CPR. Today, Ethan is doing fine.
One week after Ethan’s seizure, the toddler was playing at Greer’s house when he climbed on the 66-year-old man’s chest. Greer thought Ethan had broken his ribs, but instead doctor’s discovered cancerous polyps on his large intestines. After a successful surgery, Greer is cancer-free and doctor’s said it could have been much worse if Ethan had not helped them find the cancer in time. Ethan and Greer held hands as they accepted their awards together Saturday morning.
Also honored was Wellington firefighter Brian Slack, who initiated CPR and rescue breathing on a man lying unconscious in the street. Slack, who was off-duty, worked on the victim until paramedics arrived and continued working on the man inside the ambulance. When they arrived at the hospital, the man regained a pulse and was breathing on his own.
Violent Kavanaugh, 82, fell in her Oberlin home in March and had been lying badly injured alone on the floor for more than 24 hours before mail carrier Shawn Reed heard her cries for help. Reed wrapped the woman in a blanket and held her hand until help arrived.
Pat Walsh, a counselor at Troy Intermediate School in Avon Lake, was recognized for his efforts in organizing blood drives to help local children battling cancer. William Sellers, who graduated from Elyria Catholic High School in June, has raised more than $1,000 for the American Red Cross Measles Initiative.
Lorain County Community College was also presented with the 2009 Community Hero Award at the Real Heroes Awards breakfast, which raised more than $10,000 for local emergency services.
posted by TMC NEWS at 5:17 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home