2011 VITA Samaritans
Layne Cayton & Brendan Maher
Mims, FL
Tony Cayton was helping his son Layne and little league teammate, Brendan Maher, with individual batting practice, when Tony collapsed on home plate. The two young men raced over, grabbed Tony’s cell phone and dialed 9-1-1, and attempted CPR. An off-duty EMT and another player’s mother ran over to help give first aid until paramedics arrived. Doctors confirmed that Tony’s heart had stopped, and the young men’s quick thinking and immediate assistance was crucial in his recovery.
Eric Cooper
Ontario, CA
Eric Cooper, the coach of a California high school basketball team, was witnessing a coach’s nightmare. One of his players had collapsed on the court and didn’t get up. Just days before this incident, Eric had downloaded an app to help him brush up on first aid. He ran over with the assistant coach to administer CPR and revive the student. "It was really fresh and clear in my brain," said Eric. "We are trained in CPR, but the iPhone app was a stabilizer for us."
Marty Cooper
Vail, CO
Marty Cooper had been skiing with a friend, got of the lift, skied down the slope and waited for his friend, businessman Masami Yamamoto. After several minutes he tried calling his friend’s cell phone and discovered that his friend had skied off the trail onto a narrow ledge above a drop of several hundred feet. Mr. Cooper coordinated with Masami and the Vail Dispatch Center over the next 90 minutes to determine the exact location dispatch a rescue team. It was a life-saving use of the cell-phone by the man is credited with inventing it. “It’s quite a coincidence,” Mr. Yamamoto said. “He developed the first cell phone, and then he saved me with one.”
Amber & Jeremy Engel
Oak Ridge, NC
When Amber’s water broke at her home in Greensboro on Valentine’s Day, she and her husband, Jeremy, knew they had to get to the hospital. But on their way, they became stuck in rush hour traffic as Amber’s labor was progressing rapidly. When it was clear that their baby was not waiting for them to arrive at the hospital, they pulled over; and Jeremy dialed 911 for assistance. Amber used the dashboard as stirrups as Jeremy helped deliver the baby, using his shoelace to tie off the umbilical cord once their son Colin was safely in his mother’s arms. First responders, including firefighters, police and paramedics arrived on the scene a short while later.
LaJohnna Greenwood
Federal Way, WA
LaJohnna Greenwood signed up to receive alerts on her wireless phone, but never thought they would prove to be the key in the rescue of an abducted child and the arrest of the kidnapper. A store clerk, LaJohnna noticed a man with a young girl who matched the description of a missing girl from an AMBER Alert, and she called police. Although the man and girl had left by the time police arrived, officers used the store’s surveillance tapes and credit card records to track down the kidnapper and arrest him. Officers discovered that he had been lurking around the playground at a nearby elementary school in recent weeks, talking to children and taking their pictures. Thanks to LaJohnna, he is behind bars today and the girl is back with her family.
Joey LaMountain
Cape Coral, FL
Joey LaMountain was kayaking on the Orange River near the Manatee Park in Fort Myers when he noticed a manatee whose flipper had become ensnared in a crab trap buoy. Joey immediately called the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission’s emergency hotline on his cell phone, took photos and gave them directions to the remote location. The manatee was rescued and taken to Tampa’s Lawry Zoo where it recovered before being released back into the wild. Florida FWC officials noted the rescue was especially important this year due to a record number of deaths of endangered manatees brought on by unusually cold weather.
San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District
San Ramon, CA
When San Ramon Fire Chief Richard Price was having lunch with his fire department colleagues, he was surprised when a fire truck pulled up and emergency personnel rushed into a neighboring business. That was when he realized that members of his team with whom he was enjoying lunch, all of them trained in first aid, were unaware of a medical emergency taking place next door. This led Mr. Price and his department to develop an innovative and breakthrough new app – Fire Department. It’s designed especially for citizens trained in First Aid and sends alerts instantly when there is a medical emergency nearby. The free app also includes information on vehicle accidents and other emergencies. Interest in the app has been so great the San Ramon Fire Department is helping to establish a foundation to assist departments in other cities around the world to create similar apps using open source software.