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Dan Bailey
received a National Heroism Award at the Dec 4, 2003 Roundtable. Standing with
Dan is Karla Smith, award nominator, and Jarrod Holmes, Scout Executive with the Arapahoe District, Denver
Area Council. Congratulations to Dan Bailey, who received a National Heroism Award at the Arapahoe District Roundtable on Thursday, December 4, 2003. Bailey, who earned his Eagle Badge at age 14 through his Boy Scout work with Troop 967 in Havre de Grace, Maryland, and who took a CPR refresher course in 2000, received his heroism award after putting his lifesaving scouting skills to work on the slopes of Copper Mountain in April.
While
skiing down Andy's Encore from the top of Excelerator, Bailey,
an expert skier, saw a downed skier up on the slope. Bailey removed
his skis and hiked approximately twenty feet up to the victim.
The Fort Collins man, Glen Spaulding, 53, was face down,
appeared unconscious, and was not responding to Bailey's voice. After
removing and crossing Spaulding's skis in the snow as a marker,
Bailey determined that Spaulding had a pulse, but saw that
his face was purple and his nose and forehead were covered in blood.
Bailey also observed that Spaulding was making gurgling
sounds and suspected that his airway might be blocked. In the
meantime, using a cell phone, another skier called ski patrol. Bailey rolled Spaulding slowly over, tipped back his head, and opened his clenched jaw to make sure his airway was not blocked. He then began rescue breathing and, after he could no longer find a pulse, chest compressions. After about five minutes, ski patrol arrived and took Spaulding down the slope.
Unfortunately, Spaulding, who suffered a heart attack while skiing that day, was the eighth person to die on Colorado ski slopes - for medical reasons - last season. However, the Boy Scouts of America offers national lifesaving awards to scouts who demonstrate skill and resourcefulness in saving or attempting to save a life at an accompanying measure of risk. "On behalf of the District and the Council, I am pleased to present Mr. Bailey with this National Heroism Award," said Jarrod Holmes, Scout Executive with the Arapahoe District, Denver Area Council Boy Scouts of America.
"I’m hopeful that Dan’s award will inspire our scouts today - as well as future generations - to embrace the value of the scouting program and to know when to act courageously and put their scouting skills to work," said Karla Smith, a registered scouter and nominator for Bailey’s award. Bailey, who is a manager with Lockheed Martin, serves both as Assistant Cubmaster for Pack 559, where his son Scott is a 2nd year Webelos scout, and Assistant Scoutmaster for Troop 358, where his sons Matt and Tom are Boy Scouts.
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