At a recent North Kitsap Fire & Rescue commissioners meeting, fire chief Rick LaGrandeur presented certificates of appreciation to six community members who, in two separate emergency medical incidents this year, played a pivotal role in the survival of two cardiac arrest victims.

Those honored were Will Crawford, Crystal Taylor, Kahlil Campbell-Mortenson, Pete Pearson, Nick Mabbutt and Terry “T.J.” Johnson.

In the early morning hours of March 22, a guest at Clearwater Casino Resort in Suquamish collapsed, an NKF&R news release states. Members of Clearwater’s security staff responded as crews from NKF&R, Bainbridge Fire and Poulsbo Fire sped to the casino.

Crawford was the first to the patient and started CPR. Taylor applied one of the casino’s automated external defibrillators while Campbell-Mortenson took over chest compressions. Pearson assisted. The security officers delivered one shock with the AED and continued CPR until firefighters arrived. The man’s pulse returned during transport to a hospital and, after receiving treatment there, was eventually discharged.

In the other incident Mabbutt, an employee of the Suquamish Tribe, was fixing a plumbing issue at the home of Johnson last April when the two men heard a neighbor yelling for help, per NKF&R.

Johnson, home that day from his job as a community health worker with the tribe, had just renewed his CPR/AED training the previous week. Without hesitating, Johnson and Mabbutt answered the call to find the woman’s husband collapsed in apparent cardiac arrest. They started CPR and continued until NKF&R crews arrived.

Paramedics began advanced life support procedures and the patient’s pulses returned.