Six Honored with COM Distinguished Service Award
Two College of the Mainland employees and four student nurses were honored with the first ever COM Distinguished Service Award on Tuesday, Oct. 16. Receiving the awards for their efforts in saving the life of Gary Glover were (front l-r) Shanee Scribner, Alexis Boettcher, Andrea Strickland and Rachel Cunningham. (back l-r) Lorrin Ching, Glover and Jill Hamm.

Two College of the Mainland employees and four student nurses were honored Tuesday, Oct. 16 with the college’s first ever Distinguished Service Award for their efforts in resuscitating and saving a man’s life on campus.

COM electrician Lorrin Ching and COM Police Lt. Jill Hamm along with student nurses Alexis Boettcher, Rachel Cunningham, Shanee Scribner and Andrea Strickland were recognized during a noon ceremony on campus. Gary Glover, an electrician with Crescent Electric, who was revived after being electrocuted on Sept. 19 gave the six recipients their awards.

“On Sept. 19, all the stars were aligned and the right people were at the right place at the right time to save my life,” Glover said. “I am forever grateful.”

Dr. Warren Nichols, College of the Mainland president, thanked the recipients for their quick thinking and actions. Sept. 19, he said, “could have been a day of mourning or a day of celebration. We’re happy you’re here with us to celebrate.”

The COM Distinguished Service Award has been established to recognize any student, faculty or staff whose actions and accomplishments reach a level of receiving institutional recognition. The actions of Ching, Hamm and the student nurses, he said, “are what the COM Distinguished Service Award is all about.”

The glass awards were inscribed with the recipients’ names and read, “for unwavering response to perform lifesaving assistance on Sept. 19, 2018, resulting in the saving of a human life.”

Grady Mack with Crescent Electric presented each of the recipients with a certificate and reward for their efforts.

The morning of Sept. 19, Glover and Ching were working alongside each other when Glover used a crowbar to lift a utility manhole cover and came in contact with a live wire. Ching was able to pull Glover off the energized cover by pulling on his shirt despite putting himself at risk of being electrocuted and then began CPR.

The four student nurses, who were on an extended break from a class where they were learning sudden cardiac arrest and management of abnormal heart rhythms, happened to be in the financial aid office nearby when they saw Glover in distress.

Glover, 55, was found with no pulse. The student nurses took over the compressions on Glover’s chest. Strickland called COM police on her cell phone requesting an Automated External Defibrillator, or AED.

Hamm arrived a short time later with an AED that is kept in the COM police vehicles. Following verbal instructions on the AED, pads were applied to Glover’s chest to help get his heart into rhythm. The nursing students continued with heart compressions after the AED was used and Glover eventually responded.

Glover was taken to the University of Texas Medical Branch and was able to return to work on the College of the Mainland campus five days later.

The four student nurses are all expected to graduate in December with an associate degree in nursing.