The Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation has named Federal Aviation Association safety inspectors Ron Noe and Ray Trevino, and American Airlines Captain Frank Meyer recipients of the 2012 “People Saving People Award” for saving the life of American Airlines pilot Captain Matt Taylor when he suffered sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) in the AA employee cafeteria in December 2011.
The Foundation received many nominations for this year’s People Saving People award, according to Mary Newman, MS, Foundation president, who presented the award in September 2012 at the Emergency Cardiovascular Care Update, a biennial conference of the Citizen CPR Foundation. “All nominees are winners because their decisive actions resulted in saving a life,” she said. As such, it was difficult to identify one case to recognize for the award. Nevertheless, the actions of Noe, Trevino, and Meyer, who did not know the victim at the time of his arrest, exemplify the ideals of the award, which is designed to raise awareness about the need for immediate bystander intervention in cases of SCA.
A few months after his life was saved, Captain Taylor’s wife gave birth to their daughter. “If it were not for those guys, my daughter would never have known what it is like to be held and loved by her father,” he said.
The winners received an automated external defibrillator donated to the SCA Foundation by Zoll Medical.
The trio was nominated for the award by Thomas T. Holloway, PhD, Manager of National Employee Safety Performance with the FAA. Read his nomination here.