Voss, Everts recognized as Heroes Among Us

Eleanora Voss and Tony Everts were among those honored in MercyOne's Heroes Among Us virtual event last month.

The 16th annual awards ceremony recognizes heroes in several categories and is also a fundraiser for MercyOne's annual campaign projects for their Waterloo and Cedar Falls foundatons, raising over $350,000 for the past 15 years to support improvements to MercyOne facilities.

This year's winners included Voss, earning the Good Samaritan (Youth) award, and Everts, who shares the Workplace award with David Gilson, a co-worker at Unverferth Manufacturing in Shell Rock.

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Eleanora Voss, a second-grader at Timothy Christian School, was riding her bike along with her dad and brothers at Tondro Pray BMX Park in Cedar Falls on July 31, 2020. Andrew, an experienced mountain biker, remembers going to try a couple of tracks while his kids rested.

"There's this big wooden board that you can bike off," Eleanora said. "I was on the track and my daddy was going to bike off that board and I heard my brothers screaming and asked what was wrong. They said, 'Daddy is hurt.'"

Andrew was at the bottom of a hill, knocked unconscious. Eleanora remembers being very scared and screaming for help, and helped push her father up the hill, along with help from brothers Gilbert, 5 and Howard, 2.

They helped their dad lay down on his back, and Eleanora was able to get her father conscious enough to unlock his phone, which she used to call her mother, Kelly, who then called 911.

While waiting for help to arrive, Eleanora offered comfort to her younger brothers.

"I told them it would be okay," Eleanora said. "I prayed with them and kept doing that a lot and they finally calmed down."

Andrew was diagnosed with a broken jaw and a concussion.

"She showed incredibly bravery and heroism," Andrew said. "She was thrown into a very frightening situation that no seven-year-old should have to face. Without her bravery, poise and maturity, my accident could have played out much differently."

Asked who her heroes are, Eleanora stated, "Mom, Dad and my big brother Erik. They are awesome."

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Tony Everts recalls it being a typical November day at Unverferth, placing a work order in the computer when there was a problem on the line.

Then he received a call about a colleague in distress. Everts, a trained volunteer firefighter and ambulance driver for Aplington, worked together with Gilson to perform CPR and support each other until first responders arrived.

Unverferth offers yearly first aid and CPR classes for their colleagues. David is also former military, which he said taught him to focus on the mission; to stay calm and perform the task at hand.

In nominating Everts and Gilson for the reward, the nominator said, "Tony and David remained calm in a crazy situation and knew of potentially being exposed to COVID-19, not knowing the colleague's virus status … and still doing what needed to be done to try and save a life. This is heroic."

Gilson, who had made face shields for the emergency department with his 3D printer when it was hard to get PPE at the beginning of the pandemic, agreed: "I would risk getting COVID-19 any day to save someone."

And for Tony, it was doing what he knows best – helping others in need in Aplington.

"It did not enter my mind," Everts said of potential COVID exposure. "I saw a colleague in distress – it didn't cross my mind at all."