POWERGRAMS

SAFETY 6 Employees earn company's highest honor for heroics on and off the job Like many Alabama Power employees, Matt Walk completed the company's cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training, hoping that he would never need to use it. But when he was called on to help save the life of a stranger last May, Walk said he "knew what to do," thanks to that training. "I was leaving my son's T-ball game and walking toward the parking lot when somebody stepped from behind a car and said, 'Does anybody know CPR?'" said Walk, engineer, Environmental Affairs Air Compliance. "I knew I had been through the training, but I was wondering if I could really do it. There was nobody else around, so I thought, 'I guess it's up to me.'" Walk ran over to find a man on the ground who was unresponsive and not breathing. Walk began chest compressions, while another bystander called 911. Meanwhile, some nurses who were on the scene stopped to help. They continued CPR until the man began to breathe and paramedics arrived to deliver him to a hospital. "I may have been the first person there. But to me, the cool thing was seeing how all the people responded and played a part," Walk said. "I think my CPR training was the whole reason I could help. I would encourage everyone to take the training because you never know when you might need it." Walk is among nine Alabama Power employees who recently received the 2022 Presidential Award of Honor. The company's most prestigious award, it recognizes employees who have taken extraordinary measures to save or sustain the life of another person, either on the job or in the community. This year's award recipients, along with those who were recognized in 2020 and 2021, were honored in Birmingham on Nov. 15 at the first "in-person" luncheon since the pandemic began. "It's our privilege to recognize these employees for their courageous actions," said Alabama Power President and CEO Mark Crosswhite. "At Alabama Power, we put the needs of others at the center of all we do, and these employees reflect that philosophy in the truest sense of the word." Quick response – second nature for House Jason House spotted a two-car accident ahead of him on a highway one September morning in 2021. He immediately called 911 and pulled over to lend a hand. The experienced firefighter and long-time member of the Plant Miller Emergency Response Team quickly saw that the driver in one of the cars had not survived and turned his attention to the two people in the other vehicle. A police officer who is a paramedic joined House on the scene and, together, they pried the car door open to reach the injured victims – one of whom appeared to have broken her arm. House and the officer placed cervical collars on the two people and monitored their vital signs until the fire department arrived. Responding to accidents both on and off the job is second nature to House, whose mom was a medic and dad was an Jason House Planning Team Leader, Plant Miller Matt Walk Engineer, Environmental Affairs Air Compliance

• Cover