Kirkland Volunteer Honored for Helping Accident, Tornado Victims

George Ure, a Kirkland man trained as an emergency medical technician, will be honored Tuesday by the American Red Cross for helping two victims of a motorcycle accident and volunteering to help tornado victims in Missouri.

The King and Kitsap County Red Cross will honor 12 local people at its 16th annual King County Heroes Breakfast Tuesday morning at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle.  Ure will receive its Compassion in Action Award.

Last August, Ure, a King County Medical Reserve Corps member, stopped at the scene of an accident while driving to a friend’s house. Grabbing his medical bag, he helped two people who had been thrown from a motorcycle until EMTs arrived on the scene.

It was typical of Ure, according to the Red Cross, since he has provided medical assistance at the service agency’s shelters across the United States. Last May, he deployed to Joplin, Missouri where he worked in a shelter that housed more than 400 people displaced by tornadoes.

A few months later, when the Ontario Motel in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood caught fire, he helped open a Red Cross shelter. The Red Cross calls Ure “the consummate volunteer – prepared, trained and ready to roll when the time comes.”

“George is always willing to help on a moment’s notice,” Hanna Nallett, a disaster services coordinator for the local Red Cross, said in a press release.  “Few people have that kind of enthusiasm and compassion.”

Ure is not the only Eastside hero being recognized by the Red Cross. For a story about three people from Redmond being honored Tuesday, click here. To visit the Red Cross website and read more about other individuals being honored, click here.

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From a Red Cross press release.