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LEWISTON — The American Red Cross in central and mid-coast Maine honored seven individuals, the crew of LifeFlight Maine, and the Rapid Intervention Teams of the Poland, Oxford and Norway fire departments at its “Real Heroes” Breakfast ceremony Tuesday, March 14 at the Ramada Inn and Conference Center in Lewiston.
This year’s recipients included a passerby who stopped at the scene of an apartment fire in the early morning hours, kicked down the door to alert sleeping residents and worked to clear the building, saving nine people from the blaze; a 15-year old Sabattus teen, who rescued his mom and four siblings when an outside wood boiler ignited their home; and a Dresden man and his 4-year-old son who rescued and resuscitated a drowning toddler one afternoon at an Augusta playground.
When faced with a challenge, these individuals responded with extraordinary courage, and that is why the Red Cross of Central and Mid Coast are honoring them with this year’s “Real Heroes” awards.
The 2017 Real Heroes recipients are:
LIFEFLIGHT MAINE (LEWISTON), Giving the Gift of Life Heroes Award: LifeFlight and the American Red Cross are two organizations working hard to save lives here in Maine. Every LifeFlight flight that goes out is providing assistance to patients in critical need. Missions are flown in all kinds of weather and in anticipation, each flight carries 2 units of O-negative red blood cells in case of severe loss of blood. Inspired by the three-year battle a local Lewiston girl, 6-year old Kinzie Frey, has been battling against cancer, the LifeFlight team organized a blood drive to help highlight the need for blood products to help cancer patients. The unit goal for the drive was to collect 78 units — the drive came in at 93 units — far surpassing their goal. Each unit of blood can save up to three lives. Lori Metayer, RN/EMT and Sandra Graul-McEachern, office coordinator, who spearheaded the effort, were on hand to accept the Giving the Gift of Life Heroes Award on behalf of LifeFlight Maine, Lewiston.
JARED BLAKE AND CHARLIE WHITE (LISBON), Real Heroes Public Safety Award: “All in a day’s work” is how Lisbon Police Department dispatchers Jared Blake and Charlie White feel about being honored as community heroes. The two stayed on a 911 call with three teens, who while fishing had found themselves stranded in the middle of the Androscoggin River by rising waters. While on the line, these Public Safety Officers were able to dispatch the police department, fire department water rescue, EMTs and coordinate with Miller Hydro personnel to open the flood gates and lower the water levels. It was a coordinated team effort and thanks to officers Blake and White, all remained calm and the boys were safely rescued.
ACADIA CORNISH (BRUNSWICK), Community Service Heroes Award: Six-year-old Acadia Cornish loves to read books She spends hours reading One day, she realized not every child had the same opportunity as she did because they couldn’t afford books. As a result, she came up with the idea to build a library for all the kids in her community — so that they would have access to books — free of charge. Working together with her family, Acadia built a “free library,” a small house that sits on the front lawn of her home in Brunswick, where children can come anytime to get books and satisfy their love of reading — just like Acadia. All Heroes Event attendees were encouraged to bring a book for Acadia’s Free Library.
RAPID INTERVENTION TEAMS OF POLAND, OXFORD AND NORWAY FIRE DEPARTMENTS Workplace Safety Heroes Award: Workplace safety takes on a whole new meaning when you are a firefighter. The job puts you in harm’s way, and your life is often at risk. Extensive training and proper equipment prepare firefighters for the job, but when the unexpected happens and a firefighter is in danger, the Rapid Intervention Teams go in. On the night of April 6, 2016, Capt. Christine Yates fell through the floor of a burning Oxford Home. The Rapid Intervention Team was deployed to find Yates, who was trapped in the burning building and at risk of running out of oxygen. Worked feverishly to find Yates in time, the RITs successfully found her and were able to dislodge her from the floor, and then passed her out a broken window to safety.
ISAIAH VEILLEUX (OF SABATTUS, ME), Youth Lifesaving Hero Award: Fifteen-year-old Isaiah Veilleux of Sabattus woke to a loud noise on the night of April 10, 2016. At first he thought it was his phone, but it was his smoke alarm — weird because there didn’t seem to be any smoke in his room. When he turned on his bedroom light, he could see smoke wafting across his ceiling and traveling up the windows. A freak windstorm had blown the flame of his family’s outdoor wood boiler and ignited a fire on the exterior of the house. Acting fast, Isaiah woke his mom; working together, they got his four younger siblings out of the house to safety. The house was a total loss, but it could have been worse. In the words of Sabattus Fire Chief, Marc Veilleux, “The house was a total loss, and the second floor of the home collapsed very early on into the fire. If Isaiah would not have woken to the alarm and got everyone out of the home, the results would have been much different. Isaiah’s actions prevented a horrific and potentially tragic event.”
MATT ROY (RUMFORD) Good Samaritan Hero Award: On quiet, dark July morning around 4 a.m., Matt Roy took a sip of coffee while driving to his job as a mechanic at Cross Excavation in West Bethel and thought he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He doubled back, got out of his car and walked around the six-unit Rumford apartment building. The building was on fire; thankfully, at this point, it looked to be a fire raging on the back porch of one of the units. Roy went around to the front of the building and pounded on the door. When no one answered, he kicked the door in. He reports that it took some convincing to alert the residents to the existence of the fire quickly consuming the building. All in all, he assisted in clearing six apartments and saving nine people, including two children. In the words of Janet Ramey, one of the residents of the building and a thankful survivor, “Matthew saved many lives by alerting us that our building was on fire as we slept. He called 911 instead of driving away, ran to the building to bang on doors and even broke down doors. He saved many lives that early morning. I cannot wait to see this man again and thank him.” Incredibly, this isn’t the first time Roy has won an American Real Heroes Award. He received a Lifesaving Heroes Award in 2009 for rescuing a Rumford man who had gone through the ice on his snowmobile.
SEAN AND KADEN SCANLON (AUGUSTA), Lifesaving Heroes Award: On the afternoon of Sept. 16, 2016, Sean Kaden of Dresden was playing with his 4-yr. old son Kaden at the East Side Boat Landing Playground in Augusta, situated along the Kennebec River. Across the river, people started yelling frantically to Scanlon about a child in the water. Even though it appeared he and his son were the only ones at the playground, he went down to the riverbank to investigate. He saw a bright green swash of color in the water, but it wasn’t until he got closer that he realized it was a submerged toddler, kept afloat only by his diaper. Sean grabbed the unresponsive toddler and cradled him in his arms. While racing back to land, Scanlon patted the toddler’s back, trying to get a response. He laid the boy down and started CPR. He didn’t know if it would work, but he knew he had to try; Kaden was watching, and Scanlon knew had this been his little boy, he’d want someone to try. Finally, the boy spit up water. Scanlon could hear sirens approaching and asked Kaden to go get help. Kaden climbed the riverbank and brought first responders to the scene.
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters, supplies about 40 percent 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 depending on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. Learn more at MaineRedCross.org, on Twitter (ARC_Maine), or Facebook (American Red Cross of Maine).
