OREGONIAN RECEIVES NATIONAL AWARD FOR SAVING A LIFE
Posted: January 18th, 2011 2:13 PM
Would you know what to do if someone collapsed in your workplace? Thankfully for Ralph Radford, Pat Knott knew exactly how to respond.
This week, Knott will be honored with the Lifesaving Award for the Professional Responder, one of the highest awards given nationally by the American Red Cross. This award is exclusively given to individuals (or groups of individuals) who save a life using skills and knowledge acquired in a Red Cross Health & Safety course. Knott will be presented with her award on Friday, January 21 at 11:15 a.m. at the Northeast Community Center, 1630 NE 38th, in Portland.
Last August, Ralph Radford collapsed while playing basketball at the Northeast Community Center. Another basketball player -- an off-duty fire fighter -- checked Radford, found no response and asked a fellow player to call 9-1-1. With no signs of life, the fire fighter gave two initial breaths and began CPR.
Pat Knott, a front desk attendant trained in a American Red Cross Lay Responder First Aid/CPR/AED class, brought an AED into the gym and delivered the necessary shock. Knott followed the shock with chest compressions while one of the basketball players performed rescue breaths until EMS arrived.
Immediately after Knott's lifesaving experience, she phoned her first CPR instructor. Said Knott to her instructor, "The training worked! You're scenario was right-on and I used the skills today."
"The skills Knott learned in class were integral to saving Ralph Radford's life," said David Brooke, Health & Safety Director for the Oregon Trail Chapter of the American Red Cross. "It's so important to be trained; you just never know when you'll need those life-saving skills."
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In Oregon, the American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disaster every 20 hours; supplies more than 90 percent of Oregon's blood; teaches thousands of Oregonians lifesaving skills; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a charitable organization – not a government agency – and depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit www.oregonredcross.org or join our award-winning blog at www.oregonredcross.org/blog.
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