Red Cross to award extraordinary acts, lifetime achievement
CARIBOU — Ordinary people can do extraordinary things, and the Red Cross will honor several Aroostook County people for their heroic acts and notable contributions Wednesday, May 11, at the 18th annual Real Heroes Breakfast at the Caribou Inn and Convention Center.
Awards will be presented to five Real Heroes, four Young Heroes, one Red Cross Young Ambassador and one Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. In addition, 10 businesses and organizations will receive Community Impact Awards.
Among those who will be recognized is Tyler Fitzpatrick of Houlton, who will receive a Young Hero Award for helping save the life and severely injured foot of a friend.
On November 20, 2015, Fitzpatrick was with four friends when the pickup they were riding in went off the dirt road in Linneus, down an embankment and rolled over several times, landing on its side. Fitzpatrick climbed out the broken back window, helped three friends get out, and then discovered the fourth was missing. He found his friend nearby lying on the ground.
He saw that his friend’s foot had been nearly severed and his leg severely broken. Having taken a CPR course, required at Region Two Applied Technology to take a welding class, he immediately called 911 and then took off his sweatshirt, took out his jackknife to make a tourniquet, wrapped the foot, and kept it elevated all the time talking to his friend to keep him conscious until the ambulance arrived.
While he waited at Houlton Regional Hospital, his friend was airlifted to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. The emergency room physician entered the waiting room and asked who attended to the patient, because he saved him from losing his foot. Fitzpatrick’s friend is alive and walking due to his quick actions. The Houlton Pioneer Times reported at the time that there were no pending charges nor were there any drugs or alcohol involved.
Naomi Rice of Bridgwater, 5, will receive the Young Ambassador Award for helping the Red Cross. She decided she wanted to do something to help people in need, and last year she decided she would fill her piggy bank to the brim and donate it to the Red Cross. This year she started filling her piggy bank once again.
She has learned that no gift is too small and that every dollar counts when it comes to helping others who have experienced a devastating loss of everything. She knows her dollars will be well spent in providing a safe and warm place to sleep, purchasing food, clothing, baby items, medication and helping people recover from a disaster.
Red Cross officials called her “a shining example of how we should all care for one another and do what we can to help.” Her compassion and zeal for sharing are why she has been named this year’s Red Cross Young Ambassador.
Others who will be recognized at the breakfast include the following.
Real Hero Awards: Sandy Albair of Caribou, who performed CPR on a patient until help arrived; John Tompkins of Easton, who helped save a neighbor who had a leg trapped in a snow blower; David Bouley of New Canada and Paul McDonald of New Sweden, who helped free a driver pinned under a tractor; and Jerry Thibeault of Madawaska who helped save a man attempting to jump from a bridge.
Young Hero Awards: Blake Vincent of Ashland, who helped save his brother from drowning; Robin Albert of Fort Kent, who donated bone marrow to help her sister; and Archer Noyes of Caribou, who called for help for his ailing grandfather.
Lifetime Achievement Award: Bill Flagg of Stockholm, director of community relations and development at Cary Medical Center, who has been associated with the local chapter of the American Red Cross for over 30 years on the board of directors and as past board chairman.
Community Impact Awards, for a media and public awareness campaign that helps the Red Cross install smoke alarms free of charge throughout The County, will be presented to Cary Medical Center, WAGM TV, Pine Tree Burn Foundation, Maine State Fire Marshal’s office, Caribou Fire Department, Lister-Knowlton Post 9389 Veterans of Foreign Wars and Auxiliary in Caribou, S. W. Collins Company, Inc., Loring Job Corps, students from Northern Maine Community College and the Aroostook Association of Fire Chiefs.
Tickets to the breakfast are now on sale for a donation of $25 each and may be purchased by calling 498-5050 or email joyce.knorr@redcross.org. Seating is limited and it is recommended to purchase tickets early.
