Wireless Samaritans Thanked

Every day, roughly 225,000 calls are placed to 911 from wireless phones. These "eye-witness" calls report car accidents, health emergencies, street crimes, drunk driving, domestic violence and other dangerous situations that threaten human life or safety.

Tonight, at its 12th Annual Achievement Awards Dinner in Washington, D.C., The Wireless Foundation will honor many of these individuals by recognizing them as "VITA Wireless Samaritans."

"With more than 200 million wireless subscribers in America -- 70 percent of the entire population -- emergencies can be reported as they happen, enabling first responders to take immediate, life-saving action," said Steve Largent, president of The Wireless Foundation in a release. "VITA honorees exemplify how wireless phones can save lives and fight crime. On behalf of the wireless industry, I salute the 2006 VITA honorees for their help in making a safer and stronger America."

The 2006 VITA Wireless Samaritan Award Honorees are:

• Jim Addington from Frederick, Md., used the seat-back wireless service on a red-eye flight from Los Angeles to Baltimore to communicate with doctors on ground to help a woman who had suffered a life-threatening pulmonary embolism
• Paul George from Thibodaux, La., was part of a team of youth ministers who helped reunite over 2,000 Katrina evacuees with family and friends across the country, and arrange travel to get them to safety
• Joshua Hartman, age 10, from Silver Spring, Md., used the wireless phone his family had gotten him just the day before to summon paramedics when his father collapsed on the floor in their home
• Joe Otto from Anchorage, Alaska, used his wireless phone to summon rescuers after he became separated from his hunting party in a remote area of Alaska
• Byllie Reece from Knoxville, Tenn., stopped to comfort a distraught grandfather and to call for an ambulance for his grandson, who had been badly wounded in a riding mower accident
• Mark Sorey from Burlington, N.J., used his wireless phone to alert authorities to their location after the small plane, in which Sorey was a passenger, ditched into the Hudson River near New York in January
• Kevin Weaver from Ocoee, Fla., is alive thanks to his medical service dog, Belle, who used her keen sense of smell to alert Weaver to an impending seizure. Belle then used her special training to use a wireless phone to get medical help for Weaver.

The Achievement Awards Dinner brings together wireless industry leaders, Members of Congress and key policymakers to highlight the contributions wireless technology makes to American communities.