Daily Mountain Eagle | Former Miss Walker County Receives National Merit Award

Former Miss Walker County Receives
By Melanie Patterson | Daily Mountain Eagle | May 25, 2012

A Walker County teen has received the highest award the American Red Cross has to offer.

On Thursday, Red Cross officials awarded Hayley Jones the National Certificate of Merit for saving her father’s almost two years ago.

On June 29, 2010, Jones and her parents, Donnie and Kerri Jones, were headed to Tuscaloosa to see Hayley’s condo in Tuscaloosa. She was getting ready to start in the nursing program at the University of Alabama.

Donnie Jones was driving. The family was still in Jasper when suddenly the car started veering into oncoming traffic.

Kerri Jones looked over and saw that her husband’s head was leaned on the headrest and his eyes were hazy. She grabbed the steering wheel, and the car crashed into a tree.

Two passersby helped get Donnie out of the car, then went for help.

Meanwhile, “Hayley didn’t miss a beat,” said Kerri Jones. Before calling 911, Hayley had checked her father for a pulse. As soon as they placed him onto the ground, she cleared his airway, leaned his head back and started chest compressions.

Emergency responders arrived in less than 10 minutes and took over, then took Donnie to the hospital.

Doctors said Donnie would have died if Hayley had not acted quickly.

“It is a God thing. Never doubt that,” said Donnie Jones. “I work by myself 99 percent of the time. God just saw fit to have these two with me.”

Jones, who has mitral valve prolapse, had become unconscious after the valve ruptured.

“I’m convinced every member of every family should know CPR,” he said, especially if a family member has heart problems or other medical issues.

After having open heart surgery to repair the valve, Donnie Jones is now doing well.

Susan Sparks, Service Delivery Manager for Preparedness, Health and Safety Services for the American Red Cross, said recipients of the National Certificate of Merit Award are required to have employed knowledge they received during a Red Cross class to save or sustain a human life.

Hayley Jones qualified because she took a Red Cross CPR class while she was a student at Walker High School, where she graduated in 2010.

“This is huge,” said Sparks Thursday during a ceremony for Jones. “Not only is saving a life huge, but the Certificate of Merit is the highest award the American Red Cross gives.”

Also during the ceremony, which was held at the Community Health Systems Activity Center in Jasper, Jones received other honors.

Pat Ellis, with Congressman Robert Aderholt’s office, presented awards to Jones from the congressman.

Also, Jasper City Councilman Dr. Gary Cowen presented Jones a key to the city on behalf of the city council.

Jones was formerly a Miss Walker County winner and a contestant in the Miss Alabama Pageant. She has also won the title of Miss North Jefferson.

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