Two members of the Jacksonville community and three members of the Jacksonville Fire Department were honored by Jacksonville’s Captain Elijah Smith Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution on Monday night at the Jacksonville City Council meeting.
S-A-R President Sid Welles presented community member Steve Gilbreth, Wal-Mart employee Tory Bowen, firefighter Dan Hirter, firefighter Pat Longmeyer, and Jacksonville Fire Department Lieutenant Curt Rueter with distinguished service awards for saving the life of his wife Evelyn at Wal-Mart on September 20, 2024 after she had collapsed and gone into cardiac arrest.
Gilbreth administered C-P-R while Bowen made the initial call to 9-1-1. Lieutenant Rueter says that Gilbreth went above and beyond to save Mrs. Welles’ life: “In this circumstance, we were dispatched at 7:27 and arrived on scene four minutes later at 7:31. When we made patient contact with Mrs. Welles, Mr. Gilbreth was obviously exhausted but still performing life-saving CPR. For perspective, we are trained to switch out every two minutes during CPR because it is exhausting. What Mr. Gilbreth did was above and beyond what we ask our EMS providers.”
Rueter stressed to the capacity crowd that bystander CPR is essential in preserving life. Each member of the group received a token and special certificate for playing a crucial role in saving Evelyn’s life.