BOISE, Idaho — Seven months after saving 63-year-old Greg Corrie's life, a group of Ada County first responders received an award highlighting their heroic efforts during a Wednesday afternoon ceremony.
The award — Ada County/City Emergency Services System Lifesaving Award — is given to first responders who go above and beyond for a patient, said Shawn Rayne, Ada County Paramedics chief.
"It's nice to be able to go out and recognize these folks when they really do something amazing," Rayne said.
Ada County paramedic Ryan O'Dell, who received one of the awards Wednesday, was one of two off-duty first responders who found Corrie after he was hit in April.
The two jumped out of their car and rushed over to help, O’Dell said. After realizing Corrie was not breathing, they performed CPR for six minutes until other responders got to the scene.
"You couldn't have scripted this in Hollywood how it all came together," Corrie said. "Two people jumped in and the rest of the guys on the fire crew and the ambulance try not to get emotional but I'm here today because of that."
Not only did eight first responders receive awards during Wednesday's ceremony, but the event also marked the first time Corrie thanked the men and women who saved his life in person.
"That's probably the coolest part," O'Dell said, "getting to meet him and shake his hand and give him a hug and hear him talk because you don't really get that side with more our patients."
O'Dell said CPR is a skill everyone should have. He encouraged people to get CPR certified since anyone could get thrown into a situation where it is needed.
"A bunch of things have to happen for somebody to walk out of the hospital," O'Dell said. "The first step is recognizing and then early CPR. So, it's really important that you, if you can, go out and take a class so you can recognize those problems, then you can get on the problem immediately."
ACCESS gives out three different types of awards throughout the year to first responders — the lifesaving award, the humanitarian award and the excellence award.
Watch more Local News:
See the latest news from around the Treasure Valley and the Gem State in our YouTube playlist:
HERE ARE MORE WAYS TO GET NEWS FROM KTVB:
Download the KTVB News Mobile App
Apple iOS: Click here to download
Google Play: Click here to download
Watch news reports for FREE on YouTube: KTVB YouTube channel
Stream Live for FREE on ROKU: Add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching 'KTVB'.
Stream Live for FREE on FIRE TV: Search ‘KTVB’ and click ‘Get’ to download.