Salutes to Sergeant Michael Makai and Deputies Ryan McRoberts, Dylan Leppek, David Torres and Robert Meagher, worthy recipients of Manatee County Sheriff’s Office Lifesaving Awards.
In each instance, their swift, decisive and compassionate action made the ultimate difference to someone in our community.
Last April, Makai and McRoberts responded to a reported suicide attempt. Makai arrived, located the unresponsive victim and quickly removed the obstruction in the victim's airway. Then McRoberts arrived and they moved the victim to where McRoberts began CPR, resulting in the victim regaining an improving pulse.
As Fire and EMS took over, Makai located evidence the victim may have also ingested prescription medication, allowing medical personnel
to provide appropriate treatment. The victim was transported for emergency medical care and later received inpatient mental health treatment.
Last May, Leppek responded to a call involving an unresponsive child who’d been pulled from a pool. Upon arrival he ran to the pool where a citizen was performing CPR. Leppek quickly took over chest compressions until EMS arrived and assumed medical care. Then Leppek assisted the child's distraught mother, gathering critical information as the child was airlifted to a hospital and made a full recovery.
Then in June, Torres and Meagher responded to a possible suicide attempt after a woman’s concerned friend reported receiving texts from her saying she intended to harm herself.
The deputies located the victim and her dog inside her vehicle with the engine running in a closed garage.
Torres immediately opened the garage to ventilate the area while Meagher called EMS. They then safely removed the victim and dog, remaining with them until EMS arrived.
The victim was safely transported for treatment and they also arranged care for her dog while she was hospitalized.
· On a lighter note, a woman drove to East Manatee Fire Rescue Station Eight the other morning with a peculiar noise in her Lexus. So Lieutenant Nate Smith and Firefighters Nicholas Childers and Derrick Saxman checked it out and discovered quite the sweet surprise. They gently extracted a kitten that had somehow burrowed its way inside the body of the car.
The woman decided to keep the kitten.
She named it, "Lexus."
· Paul Champagne is 39. Again.
· So is Linda Craig.
· Maverick Johnson, too.
· And Jill McGarry.
· Jeremy Mosher, a caring and always helpful staff member at Blake Hospital, is its Colleague of the Month.
· Lincoln Memorial Middle School’s Striving Trojan Trophy recipient was Resource Officer Derek Jackson.
· Lastly, enjoy a laugh on me.
After landing at Tampa International Airport last Sunday night, I left offsite parking at 8 p.m., called Sherri and said I’d be home for dinner about 9.
Then I got lost and ended up heading north on the Veterans Expressway.
So I stop at a gas station, get directions and eventually find my way to 275 South.
Good to go, right?
Nope.
There was a humongous backup heading toward the Skyway. Work crews were funneling traffic into one lane on the bridge and we were crawling along at 1-2 mph for what seemed like forever.
By the time I finally walked through our front door it was 10:30 p.m.
That drive home took almost as long as my flight from Milwaukee.
Vin’s People runs Sundays. Email Vin Mannix at vinspeople@gmail.com. Or call 941-962-5944.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: VIN'S PEOPLE: Manatee Sheriff's Office honors lifesaving actions
