5-year-old awarded for bravery
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POLSON – The Lake County E911 Dispatch service recently recognized five-year-old Karen Hess for her extraordinary bravery and presence of mind during an emergency.
Dispatchers arrived at Karen’s Polson Head Start pre-school class on Thursday, April 6, to present her with a plaque, a meal certificate, and a bag of treats to share with fellow students.
It was the first time dispatch has ever presented the recognition award. Usually dispatchers take emergency calls, record information, and coordinate emergency response crews. They rarely get to meet the people they help, but that changed at the award ceremony. It was an emotional moment when two dispatchers presented Karen with the award and hugged her.
“This is the first time we’ve been able to see someone that we’ve helped,” said Shelly Burland, dispatcher and assistant supervisor. “It really completes the call to get to meet her.”
Karen’s bravery was especially significant because she was barely five years old when she helped save a life. The incident that led to the award ceremony began on Feb. 14. It was Valentine’s Day.
In the morning hours, Karen’s grandmother, the one with the same first name, Karen Hewankorn, made a phone call. Hewankorn dialed up Head Start to say her granddaughter wouldn’t be going to school that day, which would soon be significant.
Around noon, Karen realized the house was quiet, and she hadn’t seen her grandmother in what seemed like a long time, so she went to look for her. The search didn’t take long. Karen found her grandmother on the floor with her eyes closed.
Hewankorn had experienced a stroke and was unresponsive. Karen knew her grandmother needed help. “I was ‘kinda’ scared, so I thought I should find an ambulance,” Karen said at the award ceremony.
While her grandmother remained unresponsive, she found a phone to call for help. She pushed a few buttons, heard a voice, and asked for an ambulance. She said her grandmother wouldn’t wake up. But, the person on the phone wasn’t able to send an ambulance. Karen had called her school, which was the last number stored in the phone.
The teacher she spoke to realized there was a serious problem. Karen was asking them for an ambulance, so they called one for her. Within minutes, the ambulance arrived.
Hewankorn still has a few symptoms from the stroke, but is doing well. She was at the award ceremony to thank her granddaughter. “You’re my hero,” she said to her granddaughter as the two posed for photos.
Karen took charge of the situation to save her grandmother and formed a clear plan in her mind to get help. The dispatchers were beyond proud of her bravery.
“We don’t often get people of that age reporting,” Burland said. “In that moment this little girl did something extraordinary.”
Karen’s actions got them to thinking that they should inform young people about how to access emergency services.
“We are starting an outreach program to teach kids about the significance of 911,” she said.
Dispatcher Darlene Lester was also at the award ceremony. She said the team plans to work with kids to teach them several emergency skills including how to interact with dispatchers.
“They might not be able to tell us an address, but they can be taught the color of their house, and that really helps,” Lester said. Describing the house could help emergency crews to find it.
In the future, the dispatch team will seek to coordinate more ways to interact with people they help in emergencies
