Administering first aid. Giving CPR. Using an AED or epinephrine auto-injector. Giving back blows and abdominal thrusts. Calling 9-1-1 and providing care. Any of these can make the difference between life and death during a medical emergency.

The American Red Cross is proud to recognize the people who step up to take actions like these with Lifesaving Awards.

The Red Cross Kansas and Oklahoma Region has had the privilege of honoring several lifesaving heroes this year. Here’s a look back at their stories.

“TRAINING KICKED IN”

On Nov. 29, 2022, Eufaula, Oklahoma, Assistant Police Chief David Bryning overheard a call for a medical emergency on the radio. Bryning rushed to the scene, knowing he could be first one there.

When Bryning arrived at the boat storage facility in the call, he found a family with an infant who was not breathing. The baby had turned blue and gone limp. Bryning started giving CPR, and the 3-month-old began breathing again after several rounds. The baby was airlifted to the hospital and made a full recovery.

“I’ve been in public safety since about 1988, and very seldom do you have the opportunity where a victim or a subject recovers. And I thank God,” Bryning said. “He put me here, He gave me the training, but ultimately, it’s up to Him. I’m just glad the muscle memory and the prior training kicked in.”

Bryning was nominated by one of his colleagues and had no idea the award was coming. It was presented by South Central and Southeast Oklahoma Chapter Executive Director Loida Haffener Salmond.

TEEN LIFEGUARDS SAVE BOY

An 8-year-old boy is alive today thanks to Elina Bartlett, Laird Murray and Kyan Wahlers.

The teenagers were working at the city pool in Cheney, Kansas, in July. According to pool managers, the 8-year-old got pushed underwater while trying to help another child. The lifeguards rescued the unresponsive boy from the water and started performing CPR. After two breaths, the boy began breathing again. Fire and paramedics found him conscious and breathing when they arrived.

The boy’s mother took him to a Wichita hospital, where he was treated and released.

"Our young lifeguards are trained for situations like this and should be commended for their quick response," Cheney Fire Rescue said. "Due to this, a life was saved."

Bartlett, Murray and Wahlers were recognized by the South Central and Southeast Kansas Chapter.

DEPLOYED VOLUNTEER

Amy Hillburn started volunteering with the Red Cross in 2021, sheltering and feeding people during disasters. During her 2022 deployment to Hurricane Ian in Florida, she helped save a man’s life.

Hillburn was on a team that took charge of a shelter one night housing more than a dozen clients, all with physical or emotional needs. A couple with untreated health conditions came in with their dog that night. Hillburn was in daily contact with the couple and noticed one day that the man was confused and disoriented. Hillburn and a fellow volunteer reported their concerns to the nurse on duty, who decided to call 911 and have the man taken to the hospital.

Early the next morning, the same man was found lying in the shelter parking lot. The hospital had discharged him and had him transported back to the shelter. According to his discharge paperwork, he had tested positive for COVID.

Over the next 48 hours, Hillburn and her fellow sheltering volunteer took turns checking on the man and his wife, whom they discovered had also tested positive for COVID. The wife’s condition deteriorated, and she had to go to the hospital. Then, they found the man was starting to decline—he had a high fever, his blood pressure had spiked and he was in respiratory distress. Paramedics told the Red Cross shelter workers that the man was within 30 minutes of death.

The diligence and care that Hillburn and others caring for the couple gave them is what saved the man’s life. Hillburn was recognized by the Tulsa Area Chapter.

POOL RESCUE

In July, Rita Perez helped save a life in Parsons, Kansas.

While enjoying a day at the city swimming pool, Perez heard a child yelling for help and saw a girl pulling a 4-year-old from the water.

Perez, who is Red Cross trained, started CPR, and a nurse also at the pool soon joined her. Within a few minutes, the girl started breathing and crying. Paramedics took the child to the hospital, where she recovered.

Without a doubt, the skills Perez learned in Red Cross training helped to save the girl’s life.

The South Central and Southeast Kansas Chapter presented a Certificate of Merit to her in Parsons. The Certificate of Merit is the highest Lifesaving Award that the Red Cross gives. It is signed by the President of the United States.

STOPPING TO HELP

Two Sedgwick County deputies, a man and his daughter are credited with saving the life of a man stuck in a van upside down and underwater along a Wichita stretch of interstate.

Joshua Hicks and his daughter, Riane, were driving back to their hotel for Riane’s softball tournament when they saw a white van swerve in their rearview mirror and go off the road and down an embankment, coming to a stop upside down in a pond.

"There's somebody still in that vehicle. And if we don't go in the water, then it's no longer going to be a person in the vehicle. It's going to be a body in the vehicle,” Hicks told news station KAKE.

Hicks and Deputies Clinton Harris and Nathan Kingery worked in chest-high water to free the man as Riane called 911. Once the man was out of the car, they performed CPR until he started breathing again.

“I just hope that anybody would do it. Like, if I was in that situation … or if any one of my family members was in that situation, I’d want someone to be a decent human being and stop to help them,” Riane said.

“The fact they witnessed it happen, the fact they stopped immediately and went down there as soon as it happened—I don’t think there would be a lot of people that would stop and check on that,” Kingery said about the father and daughter.

In addition to receiving Lifesaving Awards from the South Central and Southeast Kansas Chapter, the four were honored at the 13th annual Tribute to Heroes event.

A SPECIAL BOND

Every year, Lisa Gordine and her family help with the Haunted Hayrack in Frankfort, Kansas. Another rider pushed Gordine’s daughter, Kaylor, who was then run over by the ride’s trailer.

“I looked down, and I could see her black cloak attire that she was wearing,” said Jolene Wessel, Gordine’s sister and Kaylor’s aunt. “When the trailer stopped, it was totally on top of her.”

Wessel, who is a nurse, yelled for the tractor to stop and had everyone get off the ride to lift the trailer off of Kaylor so she could pull her out. Kaylor has made a full recovery and is enjoying the fourth grade.

“If she wasn’t there, I’m not sure that we would have the same outcome that we did,” Gordine said.

“I don’t call myself a hero. I feel like I just jump into action. So, I feel just being able to be her hero, she and I’s going to have a special bond for the rest of her life,” Wessel said.

In addition to receiving Lifesaving Awards from the South Central and Southeast Kansas Chapter, Wessel was honored at the 13th annual Tribute to Heroes event.

ANYONE CAN PARTICIPATE

Everyday citizens, professional responders, healthcare workers and Red Cross associates are encouraged to submit nominations and share stories through LifesavingAwards.org whenever lifesaving skills are used to save or sustain a life.

American Red Cross Training Services teaches lifesaving skills to an average of more than 7 million people each year in businesses, schools and communities. Locally, the Red Cross is developing partnerships to teach skills like hands-only CPR through existing groups that work with at-risk communities. You can support these initiatives. Visit redcross.org/holiday to donate to the Red Cross.

About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40% of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or CruzRojaAmericana.org, or visit us on Twitter at @RedCross.