by Dennis Dalman
The June 23 Sartell City Council meeting became a half-hour awards evening as three lifesaving awards were presented to three groups of people, a total of 16 recipients.
Sartell Police Chief and Public Safety Director Brandon Silgjord presented the award plaques to the recipients, followed by applause from the audience and council members. All the awards were for life-saving responses that occurred last year.
Award 1
The first batch of awards were given for an outstanding lifesaving response about one year ago at Knotty Paws, a dog grooming and dog daycare center in east Sartell. A 62-year-old woman at that business collapsed in a bathroom there. The owner of Knotty Paws and two of the employees rushed to aid the woman, giving comfort and CPR. Soon the police and paramedics arrived and continued with life-saving aid. Then the woman was taken to the hospital, where she recovered and is now in good condition at her home.
Silgjord presented the Life Saving Awards to the following: Police Capt. Kelly Mader and police officers Curt Grosz and Steve Mathews; paramedics Hannah Keller and James Blumenschein; Knotty Paws owner Kelly Thompson and employees Mckaela Geroy and Karissa Kiffmeyer.
Silgjord said this to the recipients: “I think we can all agree if it wasn’t for your actions, that (good outcome) would not have been the case.”
Award 2
Last fall, a man suffered a cardiac-arrest incident at a home in LeSauk Township, and Sheriff Steve Soyka of the Stearns County Sheriff’s Department alerted the Sartell Police Department about the emergency due to its proximity to the medical crisis.
The officers did CPR on the man and also applied four or five shocks to his heart from a defibrillator to re-start his heart.
Honored for that fast and expert response that saved that man’s life are Sartell Police Department officers Sgt. Nate Frieler, Jordan Miller, Curt Grosz and Stearns County Sheriff’s Deputy Allan Sana.
Award 3
On May 7, there was a mental-health crises on the Sartell bridge at the end of Second Street S. when the police received an emergency call about a man who seemed to be contemplating jumping into the Mississippi River.
Sartell police Sgt. John Lester rushed to the scene and saw a man was sitting on the edge of the bridge with one leg over it, apparently preparing to jump off into the river. Lester, in a calm soothing voice, began to talk to the man with compassion for the man’s tense panic and urgency.
“He (Lester) used a ton of grace and compassion,” said Chief Silgjord.
After about 200 minutes of calm-down conversation between officer Lester and the man, the man finally got down off of the edge of the bridge. Lester arranged emergency medical assistant for the man before he was taken to the hospital.
Silgjord then presented Lester a Life Saving Award, after which Sartell Administrator Anna Gruber quickly stepped up to the front of the council chamber. She announced Chief Silgjord was himself, along with Lester, involved in the helpful soothing conversation to calm the man down. Gruber then handed Silgjord a Life Saving Award too as the people in the council chamber burst into applause.
Four law-enforcement officials received lifesaving awards at the last city council meeting for saving the life of a man who suffered cardiac arrest last fall at a home in LeSauk Township. Pictured (from left to right) are Stearns County Sheriff’s Deputy Allan Sana, Sartell Police Officers Jordan Miller and Sgt. Nate Frieler and Sartell Police Chief and Public Safety Director Brandon Silgjord, who presented the award. The other honoree, Sartell Police Officer Curt Grosz, was unable to attend the awards ceremony.
