Two Orange County residents were among four people honored by the American Red Cross recently for their swift and assured action to save lives.

The Central North Carolina Chapter of the Red Cross presented Charlotte Pate of Chapel Hill, Allison Eaton of Hillsborough, Carolyn Bass of Durham and Stephanie Terrey of Raleigh with the National Lifesaving Certificate Merit Award.

The award is presented to those who have taken an American Red Cross lifesaving class and have put that training into action, said Mark J. Innocenzi, director of health and safety services for the Central North Carolina Chapter, which serves Durham, Granville, Orange, Person and Vance Counties.

The ceremony was held at chapter offices, where Innocenzi described the lifesaving events for each award:

Pate was trained in Adult CPR/AED (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation/automated external defibrillator) and First Aid as a student at UNC-Asheville. When she returned home this summer she took a job as a camp counselor at the UNC Faculty-Staff Recreation Association.

The campers were celebrating Jalloween (Halloween in July) when 5-year-old Luke Pearce ate a piece of hard candy that became lodged in his throat. Pate called out for help and then performed upper thrusts until the candy was dislodged from Luke's throat.

Luke later returned to the rest of the daily activities. Pate removed all hard candies from the trick or treat bags so there would be no more accidents.

"We're so lucky she had proper training from Red Cross and used that training in quick manner," said Ken Pearce, Luke's father.

Eaton, a teacher at Cedar Ridge High School in Hillsborough, is a trained Emergency Medical Technician, a member of South Orange Rescue Squad, and a first responder with Orange Grove Fire Department.

In September of 2009, 17-year-old Natalie Hough, a Cedar Ridge student, collapsed in the restroom. Eaton was called from the office to the scene. When she arrived, Hough was in full cardiac arrest and was receiving CPR from other staff.

Eaton continued CPR and 911 was called. Other staff continued to assist, and the school's AED was used.

Paramedics arrived and transported Hough to Duke Medical Center, where she was diagnosed with Long QT Syndrome, a disturbance in the heart's electrical system.

"I'm so glad we know who was giving CPR - a close family friend who is now my biology teacher," said Kaytee Hough, Natalie's sister and a sophomore at Cedar Ridge

In early 2010, Bass became a volunteer at her local chapter of the American Red Cross.

A month later in March, she and her husband Roger were spending a quiet weekend at their favorite campground at Lake Gaston, Va. As they prepared for bed Carolyn noticed her husband's color was ashen. He was sweating and complaining about discomfort.

She recognized the symptoms of a heart attack. She raced to the next camper, who had a land line phone, and yelled, "My husband is having a heart attack, call 911," just as she was trained to do.

Bass returned to her husband to keep him calm and give him an aspirin, which can inhibit the formation of potentially lethal blood clots, until the paramedics arrived, which took 25 minutes.

According to the treatment team, if Bass had not taken the steps she did, her husband would not have survived the event, said Innocenzi.

Terrey took the American Red Cross' Infant/Child CPR AED at her workplace, RTI International, said Innocenzi. She was pregnant when she took the class; she wanted to be prepared for the birth of her daughter, Charlotte.

When Charlotte was seven weeks old, she stopped breathing in her mother's arms. Terrey remained calm and kept Charlotte's airway open until help arrived. The doctors who cared for Charlotte said the diagnosis was a "near-miss of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome."

"These awards are held on an as-needed basis. Our goal is for this to become a yearly event," said Innocenzi.

The Certificate of Merit is signed by the president of the United States, who traditionally serves as the honorary chairman of the American Red Cross. This custom began in 1913, under William H. Taft. Since then, more than 12,000 individuals have been recognized.

Executive Director Toby Barfield said the chapter trains between 9,000 and 10,000 people every year.

For more information on how to become trained in CPR/First Aid, visit centralnorthcarolina.redcross.org/.