Heroes come in all ages and from different walks of life. They are people who, in the course of their daily lives, make a difference without seeking the spotlight or an award.
On Sept. 15, the American Red Cross of East Georgia honored area residents who’ve gone beyond the call to make a difference at the 10th annual Heroes Breakfast at Sacred Heart Cultural Center.
The recipients recorded videos to tell their stories. Those videos were shared with the breakfast attendees.
Sgt. Chris Robinson with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department had just ended his shift Dec. 10, 2020, when he heard a call from dispatch about a family trapped in their home in a house fire.
He didn’t stop to think, but he headed to the site of the burning home, he said in a video. Dakota Lamb, another officer on the force, arrived about the same time.
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“In my mind, it played so slow,” Lamb said, but in reality, the action was at a rapid pace.
After trying to enter the residence and being forced out because of the thick smoke, the two men had to come up with an alternate rescue plan.
Lamb called to the family to throw their infant to them from the second-story window to safety below. They also helped another child who jumped to safety.
As the children made it down, the fire engine arrived and used the ladder to help the mother out of the building.
The two were named the law enforcement heroes.
Savannah River Site firefighters Cal Cannon and John Melton were named fire rescue heroes.
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On June 29, 2020, the two were attending a funeral of another firefighter when they heard the thud of someone collapsing. They rushed to the man’s aide and found him face down, not breathing and with no pulse. They performed CPR on him.
Soon, they heard him gasp for air. They gave him oxygen and stayed with him until emergency services arrived.
Melton, whose father was the fire chief in Williston, S.C. said being a firefighter was all he ever wanted to do, and he just wants to help people.
Jeff Smelley received the Good Samaritan Award for his efforts in helping a woman.
Smelley was on I-20 in July when he passed a car belonging to Hannah Yells.
Yells had pulled off because she had smoke coming out from underneath her hood.
But Smelley could see what Yells could not. The car had flames coming from underneath the vehicle. As Yells sat in the vehicle, Smelley slammed on brakes and put it in reverse. He had to warn her, and he did.
Within minutes, the car was completely engulfed in flames, but Yells had escaped.
At 11, Julian La Pan just wants to help people because he loves his community.
He saw a Facebook post about the “50 yard” challenge, which prompted him to set a goal of mowing 50 lawns of the elderly, disabled veterans or single mothers, free of charge.
He got a great response from the first person whose lawn he mowed, he said.
“He was so excited, and that got me excited,” he said.
La Pan received the Good Samaritan Youth Award.
Dr. Vamsi Kota was named the medical hero.
Kota is the director of the bone marrow and stem cell transplantation program at Augusta University Health and Georgia Cancer Center.
He worked to bring the CAR-T program to the area, which provides life-saving, less toxic types of immunotherapies for cancer patients, specifically those with leukemia.
Kota said it certainly looks like the future of treatment for cancer patients.
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The military hero is Spc. Dazia Parker.
She said she never expected to use her combat lifesaver training at Barton Field, but she did just that. She was at a ceremony when she spotted a young boy fainting. She rushed across the field, helping him to regain consciousness using the techniques she’d learned.
Unknown to Parker at the time, the boy had four congenital heart defects and a shunt that causes his blood oxygen levels to plummet.
She stayed with the family and escorted them to their car.
A team of SRS medics received the medical team hero award after helping a man in medical distress in November at the site.
Jason Benton, Roger “Dale” Kizer and Robert Ratcliff knew something was off with the young man – something more serious than on the surface after asking a series of questions.
The young patient was experiencing symptoms typically seen in older stroke patients, said Ratcliff.
By the time, they got the patient into the ambulance, the patient started deteriorating quickly, he said.
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As it turned out, the employee was suffering from a brain bleed. They activated a stroke alert and notified the hospital.
The Spirit of the Red Cross award went to Dr. Nidhi Gulati, who spent 20 years at the Georgia War Veterans Nursing Home, retiring as its medical director. She helped the facility earn the Join Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval.
While some people are heroes to humans, Travis Spears is a hero to four-legged creatures and volunteers for an organization called Pilots-n-Paws.
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Spears loves to fly, and he puts that love to good use by helping get animals out of shelters and to good homes.
One particular rescue was that of a mother dog with 10 puppies that had been abandoned on the steps of the St. Simon’s Island animal shelter.
Spears got the animals on the first leg of their journey. He handed them to a pilot from Raleigh, N.C. who took them on the next part. They eventually found a home in Maryland.
Spears was named the animal rescue hero.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com.
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