During the months of April and May seven Pleasant Prairie Public Safety personnel were recognized for their service to the community. On April 21, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) recognized Firemedic Adam Craig, Firemedic Aaron Longrie and Police Detective Heather Mogensen for their outstanding service to the community. District Commander Phil Allen and Post 7308 Commander Paul Fredericksen presented the three with both a Post 7308 award and a National award.
Firemedic Craig recognized a very rare condition in a young patient upon assessing a rescue scene. His recognition of this rare condition saved the young man’s life. Firemedic Longrie was recognized for his role as the training officer for the Kenosha County Hazardous Materials Team, a cooperative effort among multiple departments, and for his lifesaving efforts during an ice rescue. Detective Mogensen was recognized for her professionalism, caring and wealth of experience in handling an investigation related to an animal abuse case at a local horse farm.
On May 19, two Pleasant Prairie Police Officers, Officer Megan Mrnak and Officer Patrick Gainer, received a Life Saving Award for assisting a person in physical distress at a local business on December 23, 2013. Officer Mrnak, a first responder to an emergency call, assessed and began administering CPR to a 57-year old male who was unresponsive with no pulse and who was not breathing. Officer Gainer also performed CPR alongside Officer Mrnak until to the arrival of Pleasant Prairie Fire & Rescue. The two were able to revive the man. Though the man later passed away at a local hospital, the two officers gave this man his best chance for survival after experiencing a life-threatening event.
Also on May 19, Deputy Chief of Police David Mogensen, Detective Heather Mogensen, Officer Megan Mrnak, and Officer Gerald Paul received letters of commendation for their work related to an animal abuse case at a local horse farm. The four officers were commended for going above and beyond from the outset of the investigation through the end of the animal adoption process. Beyond the extensive investigative aspect of the case, these four officers took great care to locate new adoptive homes for these animals and to directly care for the animals and prepare them for adoption alongside other concerned volunteers.
Chief of Police David Smetana and Chief of Fire & Rescue Doug McElmury both shared the sentiment, “There are so many who quietly go above and beyond on a consistent basis. It’s great to pause every once and a while and say thank you for the great job. We’d like to thank our departments for the great care they take of our com¬¬munity, and we’d also like to thank the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Post 7308 for recognizing our efforts.”