On April 1, Linda Calderiso, one of NEPPA’s Trainers, and Courtney Crouse went out to Marblehead Municipal Light Department to present one of their employees, Kirk Blaisdell, with the MEDIC First Aid Good Samaritan Award. This award is in recognition of someone’s extraordinary actions responding to a medical emergency and providing life-sustaining care. Kirk is currently a First Class Lineman at Marblehead where has been for five years. Kirk graduated last year from NEPPA’s Apprentice Lineworker Program.

In April 2014, Kirk and five of his co-workers went out to dinner at a local steakhouse.  After their dinner arrived, one of Kirk's co-workers suddenly stood up and started walking toward the bathroom. That’s when Kirk noticed something was wrong, and only a few steps away from the table, his co-worker realized it too. He turned around and started to give the universal sign for choking and Kirk jumped into action. He proceeded to perform the Heimlich maneuver. However it didn’t come up all the way, so Kirk asked if he wanted another and the man shook his head yes. Kirk then gave another thrust and everything seemed to come up that time.

"It felt good I got to help him," said Kirk. "It’s so cliché, but there were five other guys there who would have done the same exact thing; it was just that I was sitting the closest to him and I kind of looked up and saw that he was in a panic." 

Kirk also states, "I need to thank Linda. She was the biggest part of this. Had it not been for her, no one would have known what to do."




Linda Calderiso, Kirk Blaisdell, and Willard Snow - General Line Foreman



Kirk Blaisdell and Willard Snow