Don Davis is full of gratitude that Autumn Dipert Brown and her family were eating at the Trail Dust Restaurant in Arlington, TX on July 24. Brown, who owns the Arlington-based Dan Dipert Coaches and Tours, successfully performed CPR on Davis who collapsed in the restaurant. For her actions, Brown was presented with the “Life Saving Award” by Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck in a Sept. 14 ceremony at The Ballpark in Arlington.
Brown flew into action soon after Davis collapsed. Using her CPR training from the American Red Cross, Brown performed mouth-to-mouth ventilations until paramedics arrived to revive Davis with an automatic external defibrillator. He was transported to a local hospital where he received treatment and survived.
CPR certification is important to Brown and Dan Dipert Coaches and Tours. For the past six years the company has encouraged its employees to learn CPR by offering the American Red Cross’ CPR Certification and Basic First Aid Course to all employees and conducting the courses in their offices free of charge. Virtually all of the company’s drivers and tour directors have completed the training.
“We believe that providing the training to our employees is our responsibility to our passengers, our community, our friends and family,” Brown said. “I can attest that you just never know when CPR can save someone’s life. I’m very grateful to the American Red Cross for making the training so affordable to all Americans and I feel honored that I was at the right place at the right time with the right knowledge and courage to assist in saving one man’s life.”
In 2006 she was awarded the ‘Safety Leader of the Year’ award from the United Motorcoach Association, the industry’s largest association, for her leadership in creating the first nationally available driver training program to the industry. She has served on the Board of Directors of UMA since 2009 and has been the Human Resources instructor for Bus and Motorcoach Academy, an online training resource available through the College of Southern Maryland since 2007.