The Renton Fire Department along with several Renton firefighters and City of Renton employees were proclaimed “Everyday Heroes” at a celebratory breakfast Thursday. The Renton employees were among 18 heroes heralded at the Twelfth Annual Heroes Breakfast, called “Everyday People, Everyday Heroes.” The breakfast was at the Washington State Convention Center in downtown Seattle. The American Red Cross Serving King & Kitsap Counties presented the awards.

Renton Fire Department received a Workplace Safety Award for its Renton Heart Month campaign held last February. The department focused on heart health awareness during the month, and provided blood-pressure and blood-sugar screening, Automated External Defibrillator (AED) awareness and CPR training.

Two City of Renton employees also received the Workplace Safety Award for saving the life of a man who collapsed while playing basketball at Renton Community Center last February. The two employees are Kim LeMay, who then worked at the community center, and Liz Fast, a Red Cross-trained Renton Parks employee. Fast was in LeMay’s community center office when a man ran into the lobby and said Dave Moore, then 72, had collapsed. LeMay called 911 and began rescue breaths and chest compressions while Fast used an AED to shock Moore’s heart. After three shocks, paramedics arrived and Moore was taken to Valley Medical Center. He was released five days later. LeMay had participated in CPR and AED trainings during Renton Heart Month just a few days earlier.

Renton firefighters Tim Smith, Henry Dykes and Paul Keller and Bill Barnes from King County Medic One received a Medical Rescue Award Thursday for saving the life of a woman whose heart stopped in a Renton Domino’s Pizza in September 2006. Keller and Dykes performed CPR on Nicole Veldwyk, then 18, while Barnes and Michael Damm of Medic One performed advanced life care. Although doctors gave her a less than 2-percent survival chance, Veldwyk made a full recovery, and a a defibrillator was implanted in her chest. Like her father, Veldwyk suffers from Long QT syndrome, which causes erratic heartbeats.

The Workplace Safety award was sponsored by Weyerhaeuser, and the Medical Rescue Award by Overlake Hospital and Medical Center.

Breakfast proceeds will support disaster relief efforts in King County.