POCONO TOWNSHIP -- In the Poconos, two people got a special surprise award for helping save a man’s life earlier this year.
It wasn't just any meeting of the Monroe County Control Center Board of Directors Tuesday night.
It was a chance to thank and recognize 911 dispatchers for their life-saving work, from helping mothers deliver their own babies before help arrived, to assisting police catch burglars, or talking callers through CPR to save a person's life.
"It's great because these people are behind the scenes, you know, people often don't see them or know who they are,” said Roger Delarco, chairman of the board.
Then came a special surprise, an award for a board member and someone sitting in the crowd.
On June 7, Jeffrey Strunk, a deputy director for the Monroe County Control Center, was at the NASCAR race at Pocono Raceway.
He got a call that there was a man down and he raced to the scene with track employee Starrlee Warner. They started CPR and saved his life.
What they didn't expect, was this award.
“This was great that it was a surprise. They had no clue it was coming. Yeah, it was a good thing,” said Gary Hoffman, director of communications at the Monroe County Control Center.
Strunk and Warner thought they were just at the meeting for work reasons.
"I was shocked. I didn't understand why Pocono Raceway was here. They usually don't come to our meetings, but it was a great shock actually,” said Jeffrey Strunk, deputy director of communications at the control center.
"We were told we were coming here to thank Monroe County for all their assistance for Pocono Raceway,” said Starrlee Warner, an operations assistant at Pocono Raceway.
Strunk and Warner got a chance to meet the man they helped save. They say it was a wonderful experience, one they'll never forget.
"It felt good because in 20 years of doing this, you don't get a lot of saves and it felt good to get a save and then meet him two months later,” said Warner.