Life Changers – Local Red Cross Chapter Honors Hometown Heroes

The American Red Cross Pioneer Valley Chapter held its 2013 Hometown Heroes Breakfast on March 28 at the MassMutual Center in Springfield. This annual event honors local individuals and groups who have shown courage, kindness, and unselfish character when a friend, family member, or stranger faced a life-threatening situation, as well as those who have had an extraordinary impact on the community.
This annual, signature event is the chapter’s largest fund-raising event, providing resources to support the work of the Pioneer Valley Chapter throughout its communities. From 24/7 disaster relief to life-saving training programs and emergency communications services to the U.S. military, this event — of which HCN and BusinessWest magazine are sponsors — helps to ensure the fiscal strength of the local chapter of the Red Cross.
This year’s honorees include:
• Westfield Fire Captain Rebecca Boutin of Feeding Hills. She saved the life of fellow firefighter Steve Makos, who became separated from his team while fighting a fire at 12 Franklin St. in Westfield. Unable to stop the fire and faced with heavy smoke and heat, Boutin and her team retreated from the building. Makos became separated from them and, his air tank running low, could not find his way out as he became enveloped with heavy, black smoke. Boutin did not hesitate, re-entering the building and crawling under the smoke and swinging her feet and tools in the blackness until she kicked Makos’s shoulder. He grabbed her boot and led him from the building. Boutin received the Medal of Valor for her efforts. “Absolutely no doubt about it,” said Makos later, “I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for Becky.”
• George Hamilton of Amherst. The 13-year-old used CPR he learned from an episode of NBC’s The Office, set to the beat of the Bee Gees hit “Stayin’ Alive,” to give aid to his mother, Claire Hamilton, a UMass professor who suffered sudden cardiac arrest while watching a movie with her son. George had learned the importance of quickly calling 911 through the Student Awareness of Fire Safety (SAFE) program at school. After calling for help, he administered CPR chest compressions and opened his mother’s airway with coaching from Amherst fire dispatcher Scott Delpozzo. “George was one of the calmest callers I’ve had,” Delpozzo said. “The calls go so much better if they’ve had the SAFE training.”
• Columbia Gas of Massachusetts Crew Chief Brent Alexander. He responded to the scene of a serious gas leak in downtown Springfield the day after Thanksgiving. A veteran of almost 40 years with the gas company, Brent assessed the situation and urged his colleagues, who were standing barely 30 feet from the building where the leak was found, to take cover behind his heavy crew truck. Less than five minutes later, a massive explosion leveled the concrete building and severely damaged several other buildings nearby. Though his men suffered injuries from flying debris, all survived the blast.
• Truck Driver Ward Hamilton of Enfield. The former police officer pulled wounded State Trooper John Vasquez from the line of fire when a shooter sprayed gunfire through a quiet West Street neighborhood in Chicopee. Sipping coffee nearby, Hamilton saw shots strike a nearby State Police cruiser, shattering its windows, leaving Vasquez, a 20-year veteran, slumped over, bleeding from wounds in his hand and leg. Two rounds had lodged in the headrest, narrowly missing the trooper’s head. Ward ran to the cruiser and pulled Vasquez to safety.
• Homewood Suites Front Desk Clerk Stephanie O’Brien of Chicopee. She gave aid to housekeeping inspector Maggie Ramirez, who fell as the result of a seizure and struck her head on a concrete flower container. When another employee found Maggie unconscious, bleeding from the head, he called the front desk. Stephanie called 911, advised the first responders of the severity of the injury, and applied pressure to Maggie’s wound until help arrived. Doctors told Homewood Suites management that, were it not for Stephanie’s quick response, Maggie might not have survived. She is today on her way to a full recovery.
• The students and alumni of Palmer High School. They have run one of the largest Red Cross blood-collection efforts for more than 30 years, collecting in excess of 6,000 units of blood. Today, some alumni find themselves recipients of the very program they helped make successful during their high-school years. Drives have been held in honor of past graduates who have developed life-threatening illnesses and for the child of at least one former Palmer High Blood Committee volunteer.
• Springfield Police Officer Kevin E. Ambrose. He died in the line of duty as he attempted to aid a woman in a domestic dispute with a man she had filed a restraining order against barely an hour before. Ambrose had been first called to the scene to assure safe passage of some of the assailant’s property from his estranged girlfriend’s possession. When the situation became volatile, though backup help was en route, Ambrose, a 36-year veteran of the force, judged the woman to be in grave danger and responded alone. He was shot through the closed apartment door and killed. The woman was also shot by the assailant, who then took his own life.