[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 139 (Friday, October 26, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1725]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   RECOGNIZING DR. TERRY GORDON AS THE 45TH RECIPIENT OF THE BERT A. 
   POLSKY HUMANITARIAN AWARD FOR HIS WORK AS A CHAMPION OF AUTOMATED 
                        EXTENERAL DEFIBRILLATORS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BETTY SUTTON

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 26, 2012

  Ms. SUTTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor an extraordinary 
individual who has tirelessly advocated to save the lives of children 
and others by getting life-saving automated external defibrillators, 
AEDs, placed in schools across the nation.
  Dr. Terry Gordon is the 45th recipient of the Bert A. Polsky 
Humanitarian Award given out each year by the Akron Community 
Foundation to an individual or couple who best exemplifies selfless 
dedication to humanitarian causes in Akron, Ohio.
  A Cleveland Clinic trained cardiologist, Dr. Gordon practiced 
invasive cardiology at Akron General Medical Center for over 21 years 
prior to his retirement. In 2000, while serving as President of the 
Summit County American Heart Association, a 15 year old football player 
at Barberton High School by the name of Josh Miller collapsed on the 
field and suffered sudden cardiac arrest. There was no AED on site and, 
sadly, Josh died of sudden cardiac arrest. The tragic loss of this 
young man full of promise was devastating to not only Josh's parents 
and family, but to the entire community.
  Upon learning of this tragic loss of life and realizing the school 
did not have an AED on site, Dr. Gordon began raising funds to place 
AEDs in every junior and high school, making Summit County, Ohio, the 
first county of its size to do so and earning him the National 
Physician of the Year award for 2002 from the American Heart 
Association. His efforts also resulted in AEDs placed in every police, 
highway patrol and sheriff's vehicle in Summit County.
  Dr. Gordon continued his advocacy at the state level, and in 2005 
helped procure $2.5 million from the State of Ohio, which in 
partnership with the American Heart Association and Akron General 
Medical Center, placed over 2,200 AEDs in schools throughout Ohio. He 
later worked with the Ohio General Assembly to allocate an additional 
$2.5 million needed to complete the task of placing 4,500 devices in 
Ohio schools.
  In 2007, I was proud to partner with Dr. Gordon on this important 
mission and introduced the Josh Miller HEARTS Act. Named after the 
Barberton High School football player who we lost to sudden cardiac 
arrest, the bill establishes a grant program to get automated external 
defibrillators into elementary and secondary schools across the nation. 
The Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives in both the 110th and 
111th Congress and is pending action in the 112th Congress.
  In addition to his work advocating for AEDs in schools, Dr. Gordon 
remains actively engaged in our community, serving on various volunteer 
boards. He was a founding member of Stewart's Caring Place, a facility 
of wellness for those with cancer and their loved ones. He has been a 
member of The Youth Motivational Task Force for many years, has been a 
long-standing board member of the American Heart Association and is co-
host of `Docs Who Rock', a fundraiser for the Summit County United Way. 
Dr. Gordon is also an accomplished author, whose work includes the book 
No Storm Lasts Forever.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing the 
selfless dedicated service of Dr. Terry Gordon and in congratulating 
him on receiving the 45th Polsky Humanitarian Award.

                          ____________________