First Aid Corps

When 67-year-old Gary Kershner went into cardiac arrest during his grandson’s baseball practice at Hillside Elementary in April, Cottage Grove residents Darlene Hardwick, Bill Larsen and Terri Zebronsky rushed to his side, performing CPR.

Diane Janski called 911 while others administered CPR. She then comforted Kershner’s grandson and drove him to the hospital, waiting with the boy until his parents arrived. Dean Larkin provided emergency responders with information about Kershner prior to his collapse.

A Cottage Grove officer arrived on the scene roughly two minutes after Janski dialed 911 and restarted Kershner’s heart with an external defibrillator.

Cottage Grove public safety director Craig Woolery said without the quick thinking of the five honored individuals, the outcome of the April incident could have been different.

Kershner, present at the ceremony along with his family, was grateful for their actions.

“I’m sure glad they knew what they were doing,” he said. “And I’m thankful for them very much.”

Hunter Cairns plays high school baseball in Los Alamitos.

Hunter Cairns the Survivor

Last July, Cairns was at bat and attempting to bunt, but the pitch came in low and fast, smacking him hard in the chest.

Cairns’ grandfather, Jack Lee, retired from the Long Beach Fire Department, his grandfather’s friend, Steve Roberts, an active duty fireman with the LBFD, and his dad, Jason, were watching from the third base line and knew it was a wallop.

Cairns ran about 50 feet toward first base and collapsed face down in the dirt.

When the first base coach turned Cairns onto his back, he took one look at Cairns’ face and shouted for someone to call 911.

Lee and Roberts rushed to Cairns. They ripped open his shirt to look for broken ribs, but saw none. Lee started chest compressions while Roberts performed rescue breaths.

When paramedics arrived, they told the men to continue performing CPR while they began defibrillation.

After the first shock, Cairns started breathing on his own. He was taken to a hospital, where he regained consciousness 17 hours later.

It was about 3:30 p.m. on Jan. 2, 2009.

Glenn Powers the Survivor

Glenn Powers, the cooler supervisor of Washington Beef in Toppenish and a Selah grandfather of seven, was discussing the next day’s schedule with his boss when he blacked out while having a heart attack and collapsed.

His boss, Kevin Lawson, and other co-workers performed CPR until the plant’s contracted medical administrator showed up with the plant’s AED.

The second shock resuscitated his heart.

Powers, now 60, took a few months off for therapy but has since returned to work full time and said he has no ill effects, other than getting tired a little quicker than previously.

The company has since purchased three more AEDs and keeps 40 of its 800 employees trained to use them.

“Had we not had the AED on site … the outcome with Glenn probably would have been tragically different,” said Brad McDowell, president of AB Foods, the parent company of Washington Beef.