Welcome to the Southern Nevada Chapter of the American Red Cross

Meet Your 2010 Everyday Heroes

Community Impact: Klip it For Kidz In March 2010, with the combined efforts of Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, and Clark County Fire Department, hundreds of supporters gathered at Town Square to chop their locks supporting the Klip it for Kidz event. Raising more than $80,000.00, Klip it for Kidz will use the monies raised to directly fund more than 25 programs offered by the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation (NCCF). These programs will provide social, emotional, educational, financial and psychological support services to families whose children have been diagnose with life threatening illnesses.

Emergency Dispatch: Tracey Marchu On August 30, 2010 Tracey Marchu was faced with a call no dispatcher wants to receive. The caller was frantic and begging for professional, medical help. After a quick assessment, Tracey learned that the victim was unconscious and not breathing. Following EMS Protocol, Tracey successfully gave instructions to the caller on performing CPR. Throughout the call Tracey remained calm and professional and she was able to reassure the caller that help was on the way. The 70 year old mans life was spared thanks to Tracey.

Medical Professionals: Florence Jameson, M.D. More than five Nevadans between 25 and 64 die every week because they don’t have health insurance. Remembering where she came from, and times when her mother was unable to provide health insurance for the family, Dr. Florence Jameson has dedicated herself to helping those who are financially struggling but are in need of medical attention. After two years of hard work and dedication to her field, Dr. Jameson successfully opened the Volunteers in Medicine of Southern Nevada clinic in January 2010; for the past 9 months the clinic patient database has continued to grow.

Fire Fighter: Nick Nordblom On May 29, 2010 at approximately 10:45, Fire Investigator, Nick Nordblom was on his way to investigate his second house fire of the night. While en route Nick noticed a column of smoke and made his way to the burning house. Entering the house, with NO protective gear on, Nick quickly had everyone evacuate the house; however, one woman, with a complicated medical condition was immobile on the floor. Too heavy for Nick to remove her himself, he waited for additional fire units to arrive to the scene. Sitting in the smoke-filled house, endangering his own life, Nick waited by the woman’s side until two other fireman were able to assist Nick in removing the woman from the house.

Aquatics: Dee Dee Cunningham Dee Dee, 9-years old, and five other children were swimming in the backyard of Dee Dee’s grandmother’s house, when Dee Dee was faced with a life and death situation of her 6-year old uncle. Just learning how to jump into the deep end with his floaties on, Dee Dee’s uncle was sitting in the Jacuzzi. Unannounced he took his floaties off and made a dive into the deep end. Coming up for water and air only once, Dee Dee noticed her uncle drowning and jumped in to save him. Pulling him from the bottom of the deep end, Dee Dee was able to save her six-year old uncle from drowning.

Adult Good Samaritan: Andrew Hardison On April 21, 2010 a 15 year old, Kyle Foglesong was walking home when he was viciously attacked by two pit bulls, running at large. As the boy tried to climb a fence to escape the vicious dogs, the dogs pulled him to the ground and continued to attack him. 10 grueling minutes went by and finally help arrived for the screaming boy. Andrew Hardison was driving by when he noticed the attack and jumped out of his truck and pulled the boy to the bed of the truck. While being transported to the hospital the boy went into shock due to the severity of his injuries. If it weren’t for the timely aid of Andrew Hardison Kyle may not have made it out of the dog fight alive.

Youth Good Samaritan: Melissa Garcia It was another hot afternoon in July of 2010 when Melissa Garcia was babysitting her two younger brothers; Noah, three, and Sam, eighteen months. The boys were in the living room as Melissa prepared an afternoon snack for them. Melissa heard a strange noise and turned to the boys, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Then she heard the noise again, she walked over to the boys and noticed eighteen month old Sam looked panicked and pale. She then realized he wasn’t breathing. Knowing what to do because of her formal Babysitting training and CPR certification, Melissa began giving the boy back blows until the object came out; it was a small piece of thin plastic. The boy instantly resumed to breathing and playing just as he normally would.

Animal Rescue: Karen Layne Karen is the President of the Las Vegas Valley Human Society, which is a full time, upaid position that saves the lives of thousands of animals in our community. Aside from dedicating her time to helping individual animals in need, Karen was instrumental in organizing and producing the Pet Overpopulation Conference – “Solving the Overpopulation Problem Locally: A Plan for the Animals.” She also worked on the spay/neuter ordinance passed by all local municipalities. She is trusted by the county commissioners and worked on the legislation for the Title 10 revision for Clark County. Karen is the voice of reason that promotes cooperation among the different segments of animal welfare groups.

Military: Jeffrey Estlack Serving two tours of duty overseas, first in Iraq and most recently in Kuwait, Jeffrey Estlack arrived home on April 1, 2010. Upon his return Jeffrey would frequently get headaches so bad he was unable to eat and began vomiting on a regular basis; losing 32 pounds after being home for just 1 month. After four trips to various hospitals and only being given medicine for his headaches, the fifth trip proved to be informative.The doctor discovered Jeffrey had suffered from a stroke and found a blood-clot on his brain. Jeffrey underwent surgery on June 24, 2010 to remove the blood-clot. However, each time the doctor removed a clot another would form. There was nothing more that could be done. One day later on June 25, 2010 Jeffrey Estlack passed away. Following his death and because Jeffrey was a donor, doctors were able to remove some of Jeffrey’s organs to help save the lives of others. Because of Jeffrey, four others had their lives spared.

Community Service: Jonathon Jones As a Clark County Firefighter, businessman, husband, and father, Jonathon is a community member dedicated to serving Las Vegas individuals. Dividing his little-but-spare-time between two programs, Camp Anytown and Project Homeless Connect, Jonathon’s volunteer services make large-scale, impact programs possible. At Camp Anytown,Jonathon dedicates his time to ensuring the health and wellbeing of the sixty teenagers and thirty plus volunteers at each camp. Jonathon personally recruits his volunteer staff f or the kitchen, oversees every meal, every snack, and every drink. As a trained medic, Jonathon also tends to those dehydrated and suffered from altitude related illnesses. For the Project Homeless in 2009, Jonathon recruited and managed all of the stylists, who provided over 600 haircuts for the homeless in less than eight hours.

Law Enforcement: Sergeants Frank Soto, and Harry Fagel, along with Officers Steve Tsapatoris, Gregory Hazen, James Wellcome, Thomas Moore, and Jon Kikkert

On September 2, 2009 officers responded to a call in reference to shot being fired and firefighters. Sergeants Fagel, and Soto, along with Officers Wellcome, Hazen, and Tsapatoris were among the first to arrive on scene. Sgt Soto was hit by gun fire and although wounded, was still able to return fire. Officer Jon Kikkert was among the second group of officers to arrive, he drove through the gunfire and deployed. The suspect’s shotgun fired forced the office to remain under cover. Officer Thomas Moore heard the call and immediately responded, noticing that two of the patrol cars had been fired on upon his arrival. As several other officers lined the perimeter of the burning house, protecting the firefighters from shots being fired, they ordered for the suspect(s) to cease fire. Refusing to do so, officers had no choice but to gun down the suspect, thus ensuring the safety of themselves, the firefighters, and the neighborhood.