American Red Cross 'Real Heroes' awards: Here are the recipients and their heroic stories
Hundreds of people filled the DoubleTree in downtown Binghamton Thursday morning for the first in-person American Red Cross Southern Tier Chapter Real Heroes event since 2019.

The Southern Tier Chapter recognizes individuals and groups from Broome, Chenango, Cortland, Delaware, Otsego, Sullivan, Tioga and Tompkins counties in New York state and from Susquehanna County in Pennsylvania in 12 different categories.

Among the Broome County recipients are a seven-year-old Woodrow Wilson Elementary School student, two lifeguards employed at Highland Park in Endwell and a Vestal Middle School nurse.

Here are this year's honorees and their stories.

Thomas Kunkel saved horses from burning stable

Across the street from Thomas Kunkel's home on July 9, 2022, a horse stable on a family member's farm was on fire. Kunkel and his wife witnessed the fire and realized horses were still in the barn.

Jumping into action, Kunkel entered the building where one of the horse stalls was completely enveloped in flames and worked to get all seven horses out safely.

Norma Ralph dedicated years to being Red Cross volunteer

When a Red Cross volunteer had to stop working, Norma Ralph, of Worcester, NY, filled in at a blood drive 14 years ago and has been helping ever since.

Even during the height of the COVID pandemic, Ralph scheduled and executed blood drives throughout her community and continues to be an avid recruiter, encouraging younger donors to give blood to ensure adequate supplies in the future.

Michelle Hroncich saved middle school student

When Michelle Hroncich, a school nurse at Vestal Middle School, responded to a cardiac medical incident with a student in the hallway on April 18, 2022, she immediately began treatment.

After deploying four rounds of defibrillation using the school's AED and administering several sequences of CPR for 10 minutes, EMS crews arrived. Without her quick actions, hospital staff said the student would not have made it to the hospital. One month later, the student returned to school and graduated from 8th grade two months later.

Jonathan Alteri pulled driver from icy waters

In the early morning of December 16, 2022, Jonathan Alteri was out plowing as part of his snowplowing business and responded directly to the scene of an accident.

Alteri, who is also a Cortlandville Volunteer firefighter, entered the frigid creek and pulled the driver of a submerged pickup truck to safety within nine minutes of receiving the call.

NYS Trooper Olivia Okun assisted gunshot wound victim

On Oct. 22, 2022, New York State Trooper Olivia Okun was dispatched to a Broome County location in the early morning hours where a shooting had taken place.

Okun entered the building and located the victim who had multiple gunshot wounds to his upper legs, applying tourniquets to both, which stopped the bleeding.

Sierra Barnhart saved children from burning home

In the early morning hours of Jan. 26, 2023, Sierra Barnhart woke to smoke filling her home where she was sleeping with her four young daughters.

She quickly went to a window and lowered all four children - ages 6, 4, 2 and 1 - to the ground from the second floor of the home and then jumped out the window. Attempting to seek help from a neighbor, they got in the car only to find the car's battery was dead.

Barnhart then set out on foot, without shoes, to find help.

David Diaz Jr. performed Heimlich on classmate

David Diaz Jr., a Woodrow Wilson Elementary School second grader, rushed to help a classmate sitting across from him at lunch when he realized he was choking on May 6, 2022.

He performed the Heimlich maneuver, which he had seen done on a medical TV show, and stopped the boy's choking.

NYS Trooper Michael Crissy saved child from fiery car wreck

On routine patrol in the Town of Dryden on Aug. 3, 2022, New York State Police Trooper Michael Crissy came upon a car in a ditch after being involved in a two-car crash. Crissy quickly knocked down smoke and fire in the car's engine compartment and helped retrieve the driver's three-year-old child.

A witness to the crash and W.B. Strong Fire Company of Freeville firefighter, Theo Moore, received a Certificate of Heroism from the American Red Cross Southern Tier Chapter at the event as well.

Tompkins County dispatchers helped save unconscious patient

On April 22, 2022, the Tompkins County 911 Center received a call for a man unconscious and not breathing at the Ithaca Airport.

Dispatchers Travis Collins, Lauren Dickenson and Eldon Stevens and dispatch supervisor Zachary Guidi helped provide CPR instructions to the caller and get fire, EMS and nearby law enforcement to the scene while ensuring other critical calls and duties were also handled.

An AED was then used to deliver shocks to the patient and when EMS arrived, the man began breathing on his own and made a full recovery after a hospital stay.

Ithaca ambulance team found and treated unconscious woman

A Bangs Ambulance team consisting of paramedic supervisor Andrew Dean, paramedic Hayden Frank and EMT Patrick Kuehl responded to a 911 call for a possible unconscious person in the Town of Ithaca on May 15, 2022. When they arrived, there was no response at the door and all doors were locked.

While looking through windows of the residence, Hayden saw an unconscious woman on a couch. Dean kicked in the apartment door and all three recognized the patient was unconscious with barely a pulse and nearing respiratory arrest. Kuehl worked rapidly to manage the patient's airway as several rounds of medication were administered. She began to breathe, woke up and improved steadily while being transported to the hospital.

Two Vietnam veterans pushed for Elmira memorial wall

Vietnam veterans Robert Brill and Dan Delany came up with the idea to create the Vietnam Moving Wall, a half-sized traveling replica of the national Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, and began planning for its creation in 2021.

After pushing for the monument by bringing it to Vietnam Veterans Chapter 803 members, forming an executive committee, raising funds and recruiting people to advocate for the project, the wall was installed at Eldridge Park in Elmira in June 2022.

Two Town of Union lifeguards saved unresponsive child

During an end-of-the-year school field trip to Highland Park in Endwell on June 17, 2022, lifeguards Destini Ayers and Evan Falvey sprung into action when they noticed a child who was unresponsive in the pool.

They pulled the 12-year-old boy from the water and began CPR before state troopers near the park took over resuscitation efforts and members of the Endwell Fire Department and Union Ambulance Service arrived to transport the student to the hospital.