Heroes honored at Red Cross breakfast

    FORT FAIRFIELD, Maine — The selfless, compassionate, persistent and quick actions of 22 life-altering individuals were recognized by the Pine Tree Chapter of the American Read Cross during their 16th annual Real Heroes Breakfast at the Fort Fairfield Community Center.
Each Real Hero was nominated by a community member for different types of actions, from tireless fundraising to restarting a man’s heart and even stopping a knife attack.
Event emcee Rene Cloukey described in detail each person’s recognition-deserving actions during the May 10 breakfast, with each hero being awarded a plaque and a medal.
    Young Hero Award recipients were:
• Carson Scott of Mars Hill, sponsored by C.S. Management, Inc. Scott’s older brother was diagnosed with a life-threatening blood disorder and needed a bone marrow transplant. Carson, now 6, was a match and bravely donated the badly needed marrow. While Carson’s older brother is still not able to attend school, Carson remains very protective of him while his brother recovers and grows stronger every day.
• Shae and Ian Michaud of Presque Isle, sponsored by TAMC. When the children discovered their mother had gone into hypoglycemic shock and didn’t respond to verbal prompts, they immediately took action. Shae called her grandparents while Ian grabbed marshmallow fluff from the kitchen and began to spoon feed his mother the sugary food. They continued feeding the fluff to their mother while asking questions to keep her conscious until help arrived. They worked together without hesitation and in complete synchronicity to prevent their mother from slipping into a coma or even worse, dying.
• Amanda Winslow of Chapman, sponsored by TD Bank. Eleven-year-old Winslow saw an unconscious man on a nearby roof and insisted that she and her grandmother check on him. The satellite installer, a diabetic, had passed out while working. Had Amanda not insisted that she and her grandmother stop to check on the installer, he would have gone into a diabetic coma and could have fallen off the roof to serious injury or death.
• Darby Clark and McKenna Condon of Ashland and Abigail Cote of Mapleton, sponsored by B&R Insurance Company. When a teacher collapsed in a school restroom, the three 9-year-olds jumped into action. Clark and McKenna went in different directions to find help, while Cote stayed with the teacher until help arrived. Their caring, mature response in this emergency may have saved their teacher’s life.
  Real Hero Award recipients included:
• Timothy M. Tweedie of Houlton, sponsored by Sargent Trucking Company and F.A. Peabody Company. Tweedie, a teacher at Houlton High School, intervened in an altercation that began when a student threatened another with a knife. When a male student asked a female student how her weekend went, she said, “I’m going to kill you,” and charged the male student with a tactical-type knife that had a six-inch blade. According to reports, Tweedie stepped between the two students and wrestled the female student for control of the knife as she bit his hand and tried to stab him; she was finally subdued with the help of another teacher and principal. Tweedie’s quick reaction and selfless act of intervening saved his student, and possibly other students, from being attacked with a deadly weapon.
• Leda Walker of Presque Isle, sponsored by Huber Engineered Woods, LLC. Manager of Homeless Services of Aroostook, Walker works tirelessly to create a home-like environment where clients feel valued and cared for. She spends extra time with the children at the Presque Isle shelter, and strives to improve the life situation of those who use the service. Walker’s unselfish dedication to those who need these services to improve their station in life, is reflected in her heroic accomplishments of encouraging others to believe in their worth in the world.
• Lorraine and Joe Chamberlain of Caribou, sponsored by Aroostook Centre Mall and Hampton Inn. Lorraine Chamberlain, LCSW, director of integration and emergency services at AMHC and her husband, Joe, work tirelessly to coordinate the Andy Santerre Snowmobile Run, the major source of funding for the Sexual Assault Services program. For the past 10 years, Joe and Lorraine have graciously and unselfishly volunteered hundreds of hours planning and organizing one of the most successful fundraisers in Aroostook County; over the years, they’ve raised nearly $400,000. Without their hard work, the Sexual Assault Services Program would not be able to support victim services to youth and child victims of sexual assault or educate people about sexual assault and prevention/early intervention.
• Eldon Jandreau of Portage Lake, sponsored by WAGM-TV. Jandreau took action when he found a man who had collapsed on his porch. The victim had fallen through some nearby ice, walked a quarter mile to Jandreau’s home and was in danger of hypothermia. Jandreau called 9-1-1, and followed the dispatcher’s first aid instructions until paramedics arrived, likely saving the man’s life.
• Graves Institute of Self Defense of Presque Isle, sponsored by Machias Savings Bank. When an elderly man went into cardiac arrest, five instructors from the school quickly responded, using CPR and theAED machine to restart the man’s heart after finding no pulse. Following their efforts, the man’s color came back and he started breathing just before the paramedics arrived. The instructors, William Graves, Jerod Kingsbury, Lucy Newbegin, Jay Peavey and Mitch Wheeler, are credited with saving the man’s life; the man is grateful for the quick action the instructors took and for knowing what to do to save his life.
• Tami Kilcollins of Fort Fairfield and Steve Mazerolle of Caribou, sponsored by Pines Health Services. Kilcollins and Mazerolle work tirelessly to purchase, prepare, and serve meals to those less fortunate. They make sure the local soup kitchen is stocked and people have meals. Their nomination says “there’s no way to know how many lives have been saved by providing a warm meal and comfort to many who are in need, feeling unworthy and unappreciated. Their display of kindness to others, helps to make those less fortunate feel valued and provides a sense of purpose in the those lives.” This past year marks the ninth year that Kilcollins and Mazerolle have generously given of their own time to work at preparing meals to ensure those who were hungry were fed.
• Jenna Bradstreet of Presque Isle, sponsored by MMG Insurance. Bradstreet used her first aid skills when a coworker suffered a reaction to an injection. Before the coworker could seek medical assistance, she collapsed on the floor; Bradstreet remained cool and calm under pressure in knowing what to do and how to physically position the woman on the floor to keep her safe and comfortable, while keeping her awake, focused and reassured. She acted swiftly and knowledgably, calling for help and caring for the person until first responders arrived 30 minutes later.
• Robert James McKenzie of Caribou, sponsored by Duncan Graves/Lancaster Morgan Funeral Homes and Katahdin Trust Company. McKenzie came to the aid of his grandmother who fell on an icy driveway and slid under a parked vehicle. With a combination of ice and water in the driveway, McKenzie was unable to free her; after nearly an hour of his grandmother insisting she could eventually get herself out, McKenzie called 9-1-1 and followed the dispatcher’s instructions until help arrived. His insistence of calling for help may have saved his grandmother’s life that day.
• John Wallace of Limestone, sponsored by Cary Medical Center. An advocate for veterans for more than two decades, Wallace has logged countless miles throughout the state and to Washington D.C. He volunteers his time at the VA clinic to assist veterans in registering for health care. Wallace helped establish the first telemedicine service at the Caribou VA clinic, making more services available to the local veterans. He also helped to form the Vietnam Veterans of America and served as state president. Humble as he is, Wallace’s service in Vietnam was with one of the Calvary Divisions that saw the most action. Wallace’s dedicated and heroic services go on today advocating for American heroes.
“Time and time again, the Red Cross has seen people facing emergencies, and they’ve turned to us for help, hope and comfort. The heroes you’ve met this morning put their needs aside to help others, making a profound difference in may lives whether it was providing food, health and emotional support, or providing a life-saving action such as performing CPR or donating bone marrow,” said Joyce Knorr, branch manager of the Pine Tree Chapter of the American Red Cross. “Like today’s heroes, the Red Cross works every day toward the needs of those who’ve lost everything to a disaster, such as a house fire, and we teach life safety skills such as first aid, CPR, work safety, we hold blood drives, we support our service members during, before, and after deployments, and we educate community members about prevention and preparedness.”
“We could not do this without the financial support of our community and our everyday heroes of the Red Cross — these heroes are ready and available 24/7 each day of the year,” she added. “They work hard at acquiring the skills they need and they’re necessary to ensure the Red Cross meets its mission.”
In addition to volunteers and board members, local businesses also received recognition during the Real Heroes Breakfast. Receiving the Extra Mile Award were:
• TAMC of Presque Isle, sponsored by Emera Maine. TAMC is honored for helping the Red Cross with community activities and fund-raising efforts throughout the year, and especially for hosting this year’s Real Heroes Breakfast.
• Transformations Ministries of Presque Isle, sponsored by Gateway Title of Maine. Transformations Ministries is recognized for helping recruit new disaster responders and board members for the Aroostook Branch of the American Red Cross, as well as for assembling and storing numerous comfort kits and providing a meeting/training facility at no cost whenever needed.
• Hampton Inn of Presque Isle, sponsored by McCain Foods, Inc. and Office Max. Hampton Inn is honored for assisting the Red Cross in its fund-raising efforts by donating special overnight packages toward its summer raffles, which helped raise nearly $15,000 over the past three years. Also for providing meeting space for the organization’s board committees, special rates for disaster responses, and support towards assisting Red Cross staff which has also saved hundreds of dollars.
Also honored during that day was event emcee Rene Cloukey; American Red Cross Pine Tree Chapter Advisory Board Chair Kate Quin-Easter presented him with the surprise Shining Star Award for his outstanding service and dedication.
“Thank you for continuing to support our real hero tradition in Aroostook County; you are our shining star,” Quin-Easter said.