PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Four local utility workers were recently honored for saving a co-worker’s life.
On Feb. 2, Versant Power employees Cameron Bragg, Steve Sager, Scott Madore and Dan Morin worked together to help save the life of a co-worker who suffered a medical emergency on the job.
Earlier that morning, the line crew gathered for cardiopulmonary resuscitation/automated external defibrillator refresher training. After completing the training and breaking for lunch, the crew headed out to set poles on the Parkhurst Siding Road in Presque Isle.
One employee arrived at the job site before the others. He set up flaggers and the work zone and started shoveling snow in preparation for the first pole set. When the rest of the crew arrived, they found the employee facedown and unresponsive beside the road.
The crew called 911, started CPR and attached an AED. The employee received four defibrillations before emergency medical crews arrived — and ultimately survived.
“CPR and first aid training is an integral part of Versant Power’s safety training, and we’re thankful that this crew was well-trained and ready to act when called upon. There is nothing more important than th health and well-being of our employees, and I couldn’t be more proud of our team for going above and beyond to take care of one another,” said John Flynn, president, Versant Power.
For their heroic and lifesaving actions, the four men were awarded the American Red Cross Certificate of Extraordinary Personal Action during a recent ceremony at the utility’s annual safety awards presentation in Orono.
“The Certificate of Extraordinary Personal Action is given to individuals, like Cameron Bragg, Steve Sager, Scott Madore and Dan Morin, who step up in an emergency situation and help save or sustain a life,” said Caroline King, executive director, Red Cross Northern and Eastern Maine Chapter.
“These individuals exemplify the mission of the Red Cross to prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies and we commend each one for their willingness to help someone in distress,” King said.
Sager, an employee for the last 21 years, says he’s never needed to use CPR or first aid on the job before that afternoon, but he’s thankful those skills were sharp when his co-worker needed him most.
“You never think it is going to be the person next to you. I had just sat with that individual for more than three hours in the training that morning,” Sager said. “I don’t feel like a hero — and none of the guys who were there with me do.
“After that person has gone away in the ambulance, you reflect on what’s just happened. You sit there trying to think if you did everything right, but then you realize you did everything you could — and had you not had the CPR and first aid training, you couldn’t have done it at all.”
Red Cross training gives people the knowledge and skills to act in an emergency and save a life. A variety of online, blended (online and in-person skills sessions) and classroom courses are available at redcross.org/takeaclass.
Visit LifesavingAwards.org to nominate and recognize someone who has used the skills and knowledge learned in a Red Cross training course to help save or sustain a life.
