A young Kodiak resident will receive a Girl Scouts Medal of Honor this weekend in recognition for her life-saving efforts.
Only 30 Girl Scouts earned the prize nationwide last year.
The Girl Scouts will recognize her for her courage Saturday at an event that will include hands-on activities and workshops with those in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics, or STEM, fields.
The presentation of the Medal of Honor will begin shortly after noon.
A Girl Scout since she was 5, Krista Simpler, 13, tapped into some of the group’s first-aid training one night when her father, Brett Simpler, suffered a pretty serious injury.
She and her father were putting dishes away, and a mug fell when he opened a cabinet. The mug crashed down into the wet dishes below and her father cut a major vein in his wrist.
“He was bleeding a lot, and my sister started going crazy,” Krista said. “She was so freaked out. My dad – we were both in shock, just like ‘Dad, you’re bleeding pretty bad.’”
Krista was worried he’d pass out and tried to help stop the flow of blood with towels. She knew he needed to go the emergency room and tried calling her mom, who was out of the house, but she didn’t pick up.
Krista then tried getting in touch with her grandparents.
“I called their home phone and, luckily, my grandma was home,” she said. “But my grandpa was at a meeting, and they have a truck, but it’s really big and it’s really hard to figure out how to drive, and she’s never driven it before, so she said she could walk down since she lives really close.”
Her dad was losing blood fast, and he decided to drive himself, Krista said. She helped him get dressed. He made it a short distance before Krista’s grandmother appeared, and he stopped so she could take the wheel.
Krista and her sister waited at home for their mother to get back, when they eventually went to the hospital to reunite their dad. He had received stitches, but was otherwise alright.
Looking back at it, Brett said Krista kept calm the entire time.
“I think I was a little bit in shock,” he said. “My decision-making wasn’t that great. I was kinda focused on just stopping the bleeding.”
“Krista was right there by my side able to get me whatever she thought I needed,” he said.
Her first-aid training with the Girl Scouts helped steady her nerves and give her the confidence to take care of her father, Krista said.
