Nick Diamantides
Staff Writer
The audience at the Hyatt Regency hotel sat in rapt attention last Thursday (March 1) morning as Mat Kaplan told story after story of people who had quickly and courageously taken action to save another person’s life. The event— the Long Beach Chapter of the Red Cross’s 8th Annual Hometown Heroes Awards Breakfast— attracted about 300 people who came to honor 11 local heroes.
Kaplan, who has an extensive background in journalism and now works as the media producer and radio host for the Planetary Society in Pasadena, was the master of ceremonies.
“The people you are about to meet are all very different from one another except for one thing,” Kaplan told the audience. “In a moment of crisis, something inside of them pulled them forward to help someone else, in many cases a stranger.”
The first award went to three Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) detectives: Adrianna Jaurigui and married couple Toby and Sondra Beskin. On Sept. 19, 2011, the three of them were driving back from a Cowboys and 49ers game in San Francisco, when they came upon what looked like a head-on collision between a big rig and a compact car. The off-duty detectives had to break into the car and hold the severely injured woman’s head in place until the paramedics arrived 25 minutes later. The woman was airlifted to a hospital and survived.
On January 14, 2011, the two men— both certified lifeguards— were leaving El Dorado Park in Long Beach after playing a softball game. They recognized a man from another team who seemed to be in distress as he walked away from his game that had just begun. Bryan-Zwick and Armstrong walked over to him to see what was wrong.
“The man had been pitching and [was] struck in the leg by a line drive,” Kaplan explained. “After that he began feeling ill and could not catch his breath, so he decided to leave.” Kaplan said, noting that when it became obvious that the man was having a heart attack, Bryan-Zwick and Armstrong swung into action. One performed chest compressions, and the other performed rescue breaths until the paramedics arrived.
The man was rushed to a hospital and survived. Doctors discovered that the ball had dislodged a blood clot in his leg and, when it hit his heart, it caused a heart attack.
Another certified lifeguard, Brianna Aguet, was next in line for an award. On September 2, 2011, Aguet was driving on Bellflower Boulevard near the 91 Freeway. At a traffic light, the woman in the car next to her turned left into oncoming traffic and was broadsided by another car that was carrying a mother and daughter.
Brianna jumped out of her car and grabbed her emergency kit, which she always carries, and made a quick assessment. The only one who seemed injured was the mother, who got out of the car, clutched her chest, and fell to the ground. Aguet calmed her down, propped her feet up, and asked key questions— whether she had life-threatening issues or allergies, etc. When the paramedics arrived, the woman was no longer coherent, but Aguet was able to give them the information they needed in order to treat the woman. She had been struck in the chest by a deploying airbag, which induced shock. Later, the woman fully recovered.
Next, Kaplan called LBPD Officer Rob Owens to the stage. On May 19, 2011, Owens was off duty and was enjoying dinner at a Super Mex restaurant with his wife, his two children and his father. Soon after the food was served, Owens’s dad began to choke, and when several seconds of his not being able to breathe passed, Owens realized that he needed to perform abdominal thrusts to save his father’s life.
He got into position and gave a sharp thrust to his father’s diaphragm, which created a burst of air that cleared the piece of steak obstructing his father’s throat.
“Rob is the EMT on the SWAT team,” Kaplan said “His First-Aid skills and duties are part of the job, but as he told us, ‘It’s something else to use these skills for a member of my own family.'”
Tyler Marlowe, 17 years old, was next in line for the hero’s award. “His story is not like any others that we have told,” Kaplan said, explaining that Marlowe became a helper to 80-year-old Lillian Fela when he was just 13. He began taking out her trash, watering her lawn and garden, running errands and doing odd jobs around the house. Fela had a daughter who brought groceries once a week but no other family. Marlowe became like a grandson to her, and the two of them spent many hours chatting and sharing photos and stories.
On Jan. 27, 2011, Owens went to Fela’s house and found her collapsed on the floor. He called 9-1-1 and began CPR, but it was too late. “His heart was broken,” Kaplan said. “His mother tells us he will never forget Lillian and what [affection] she had for him.”
Another LBPD officer, Marc Hawkins, was also recognized as a Hometown Hero. On Aug. 8, 2011, Hawkins and his wife were walking near their home in Huntington Beach when they came upon a group of people standing around an unconscious older man. Hawkins stepped in and immediately began doing chest compressions while a woman began doing rescue breaths. They kept the procedure going until the paramedics arrived and transported the man to the hospital.
“He lived for two more weeks then suffered heart failure,” Kaplan said. “Although it was painful to hear that the man had died in the hospital, Marc had given the family that much more time together and the chance to say their goodbyes.”
Priscilla Hoskinds was next for a hero’s award. On April 25, 2011, when she arrived at the gym where she teaches kickboxing, she was summoned to where a gym member was unconscious on the floor. She immediately began administering CPR and continued until the paramedics arrived and took the man to a hospital.
Unfortunately, he suffered heart failure a few weeks later and died, but the family thanked Hoskinds for giving them the chance to have those last days with him.
Tim Evans was the final award recipient, and Kaplan told his story. On April 18, 2011 after being out on business for a couple of hours, Evans returned to Crane Pacific Valve headquarters in Signal Hill and found a group of people gathered around co-worker Tim Larsen, who was unconscious on the floor, purple-faced and not breathing. Evans immediately began providing CPR and rescue breaths, continuing until paramedics arrived. Larsen was taken to a hospital and fitted with an internal defibrillator, and he has since recovered.
Kaplan noted that all the heroes were trained in CPR, other first aid measures, and in most cases they were the only ones able to take the necessary action. “When the time came, they responded,” he said. “Early CPR is vital for recovery. It won’t save everybody, but it does save lives.”
He stressed that the American Red Cross offers classes in CPR throughout the year. “Please, do yourself, your family and your friends the lifesaving favor of learning First-Aid CPR,” he said.
