GUILFORD, Maine — A 9-year-old Guilford girl thanked her parents and grandparents Thursday for teaching her what to do in an emergency situation.
Those lessons prepared Kailee Ward for such an emergency last summer when she called 911 after her stepgrandmother, LuAnn Tibbetts of Dover-Foxcroft, fell from a ladder and fractured her leg.
Ward, who remained on the line and gave a Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Department dispatcher the pertinent information, was lauded as a 911 hero Thursday during a brief ceremony at Piscataquis Community Elementary School.
“It was very stressful and it was hard to do,” Ward said Thursday.
Deputy Tim Richardson of the Sheriff’s Department presented the fourth-grade pupil the department’s first 911 hero certificate.
Also attending the ceremony was Deputy Allen Emerson, who heard Ward’s call for help and who was one of the first on the scene.
“I was very impressed” with how she handled the situation, he said.
Her stepgrandparents, Bruce and LuAnn Tibbetts, on Thursday donated enough money to pay for 10 lights for Mayo Regional Hospital Auxiliary’s Christmas Tree lighting program in honor of Kailee and her coming 10th birthday.
Ward is the daughter of Corina and Matt Tibbetts of Guilford and James Ward Jr. of Charleston.