Home Depot honors Wasilla employee

WASILLA — The success of Home Depot hardware sales associate Daniel Gipson’s CPR training all hinged on one moment.

Last month, as he stood by the returns counter making holiday decorations, Gipson heard a young boy crying nearby. He said he saw the 8-year-old and his mom in his peripheral vision, but didn’t think much of it at first, figuring she had everything under control.

“You know kids, I thought he was just getting upset,” Gipson said. “Then I heard him say, ‘Mom, I’m choking!’”

Gipson immediately stopped what he was doing and “went into safety mode.” A quick assessment of the situation told him the boy was choking on a piece of candy, and he did his best to calm the child.

“I’ve been in that situation before, myself,” he said.

After Gipson performed the Heimlich maneuver four or five times, the boy swallowed the candy and began breathing normally, he said. The mother thanked Gipson and left the store.

“It was a surreal moment,” he said.

Several employees in the area had witnessed the entire incident, and not long afterward, store manager Merry Holmes got wind of her associate’s actions.

“Superman,” she called him, though soon “angel” would be a more apt title.

Tuesday morning, Gipson received Home Depot’s prestigious Angel Award, presented only on (hopefully) rare occasions “for exceptional acts of heroism by company associates,” according to the press release.

“The associates that watched the entire situation were amazed by his quick response and by his calm demeanor. He saved a child’s life,” Holmes said during the presentation.

Gerri Sumpter of U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s office read a letter from the senator applauding Gipson for his exemplary customer service during the presentation, and Kenai store manager Michael Olson also complimented the man for his contribution to the community “culture” of the Wasilla store.

But if not for some important training, the end result of the November incident may have been quite different.

Gipson said he and his wife, Jessica, became certified in CPR and first aid in 2008 as a requirement for working at a children’s home in Texas, where they lived at the time. He had not been required to know CPR when he worked at a Home Depot store in Idaho prior to that, and he never anticipated having to use those skills when he came back to Home Depot in Alaska five years ago.

“All this preparation just for this one moment,” Gipson said, reflecting on being in the right place at the right time. “If I’d been anywhere else in the store...”

Gipson’s actions and calm behavior during the crisis are perhaps even more noteworthy due to a neurological disorder he overcomes every day.

At a young age, Gipson was diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome, a condition associated with small, sharp, uncontrollable movements. When people not “in the know” hear the word “Tourette’s,” they often think of loud outbursts and a significant lack of control, but that’s not always the case, and certainly not with Gipson. On the contrary, he is known around the store for his light-hearted attitude and frequent telling of jokes.

He has his own kind of therapy to make life easier, though. Gipson said he has been a freelance artist for more than 30 years, finding the most enjoyment in simply drawing. His father was an oil painter, and his uncle also was an artist.

“It’s just one of those God-given things that gets passed down, I guess,” he said.

And he even gets to use those talents at Home Depot, making signs, special displays and hand-painted employee of the month awards, for example.

Gipson is one of four Alaskans to receive the Angel Award out of a total 50 recipients nationwide in more than 10 years of the award’s existence. (Chris Strickland of Anchorage, Mary Cisney of Juneau and District Manager Jeremy Wallace received awards in January 2014, June 2013 and May 2012, respectively.)

“I’m just glad I could be there,” he said.

Contact Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.