A Jardine Middle School student has won a Citizen Heroism Award.
Haylea Lane, a seventh grader at Jardine Middle School, was awarded a Citizen Heroism Award by the fire department. Ms. Lane received the award in recognition of her life-saving actions; Ms. Lane found her father after he had fallen and hit his head. She used a towel to apply pressure to his head wound as she waited for emergency services to arrive. The medical support she provided saved her father’s life.
During the award ceremony, one of the firefighters who arrived on the scene that night thanked Ms. Lane for her actions, saying that it made their jobs much easier. Along with a certificate rewarding her actions, she also received a stop the bleed kit for any future emergencies and a gift card. The fire chief thanked Ms. Lane for her actions and told her that, though the age to become a firefighter is 20 right now, they would try and get that lowered by the time she graduated high school because she is “the sort of person we want in the fire department.”
Though happy to receive the award, Ms. Lane was just thankful that her actions and the actions of the first responders saved her dad's life because, at the time, she thought she was going to lose him.
Her actions showed bravery and knowledge in a time of emotional stress. She is, as Superintendent Dr. Tiffany Anderson says, an “exemplary model.” Topeka Public Schools and Jardine are proud of Ms. Lane and her amazing actions.