Three DHHS employees of the Office of Emergency Medical Services were recognized Tuesday, Nov. 12, for their life saving actions on Oct. 14 when a customer collapsed outside the Farmer’s Market Restaurant in Raleigh in cardiac arrest.

The three – Wally Ainsworth, OEMS Central Regional Office manager, Chuck Lewis, OEMS Western Regional Office manager and OEMS Assistant Chief Tom Mitchell – were honored by the American Heart Association (AHA) with the “Heart Saver” award during a meeting of the N.C. Emergency Medical Services Advisory Council on the Dorothea Dix Campus in Raleigh.

Lewis, Mitchell and Ainsworth – each with more than 20 years as paramedics – were dining at the restaurant when they noticed a lady who had been sitting near them had left and collapsed outside the restaurant. A nurse had initiated CPR and the three took over when they arrived. They took turns performing CPR while awaiting an ambulance. When the ambulance arrived, an AED machine was used to restore her heartbeat. She was talking as responders as they loaded her onto the ambulance.

In the photo above, the three OEMS employees are joined by the presenters and all the uniformed officers who responded to and assisted with the 911 call that resulted in a life saved with no apparent neurological damage:

Front row: (left to right) Vern Davenport, AHA Triangle Metro board member,  Ainsworth, Lewis. Mitchell, and Todd Baker, AHA representative to the EMS Advisory Council; second row, Eric Hoffman, Pete Gitto, Kevin Ricks, Lisa Pope, Wesley Marshall and Mark Quale, Wake County Emergency Medical Services; third row, Joshua Fuller, Wake EMS.911 operator, Carl Hardee and Todd Gautier, Raleigh Fire Department; and top row: Thomas Zlockie, Michael Taylor, Daniel Hicks, Matthew Kohr and Brian Harris, Raleigh Police Department.