Adam Kovac of Bellwood is certainly a hero.
Last December, while hunting in the Sandy Ridge area, the Boy Scout from troop 92 happened across an Osceola Mills man who slipped from his tree stand, resulting in a compound fracture of his leg.
Using a make-shift splint, Adam helped stabilize the man’s wounds, and provided comfort until help could arrive.
This weekend, Adam was recognized for his effort when his scoutmaster, Pat Flynn, awarded him the National Award of Merit at the Chief Logan District Award dinner in Duncansville.
“This medal is given to scouts who use their scouting skills in a real-life situation,” said Flynn. “Adam will now be able to wear this medal with his uniform, and everytime he takes his jacket off, people will realize that he did something special…and he did.”
Ask Osceola Mills’ Christopher Bainey.
The 27-year-old hunter was preparing for his day of hunting when he slipped climbing up to his tree stand and plunged to the ground below. The result was a compound fracture of the leg.
Luckily for him, Adam was in the area.
“We heard his cries, but we didn’t really know where he was at,” said Adam, in a previous interview with The Daily Herald.
Adam was hunting with his father Tim and couple of his uncles. He said he first heard the screams for help at about 7 a.m.
“The wind was russling around pretty good so we couldn’t really pinpoint where he was at,” said Adam. “We ended up walking down a dirt road and found his truck. We knew we were in the area, but the wind was drowning everything out.”
Finally, after about ten minutes, he and his father found him.
“We moved through some thick brush, and sure enough, there he was,” he said.
Adam said Bainey was barely alert. He said from his Boy Scout training, he knew the Osceola Mills man was going into shock.
“My dad told me to stay there while he went to get my uncles, which were about a mile away,” he said.
Using two sticks, a bungee cord that was in Bainey’s tree stand and his own pair of suspenders, Kovac constructed a make-shift splint for the man’s leg. Also, he said he used his own coat to cover him.
“It was difficult to make a splint like that,” said Kovac. “But once I got it secured, everything was fine. I stayed with him for the next 40 minutes until help arrived.”
It was during those 40 minutes that Kovac’s actions may have saved a life.
“I just kept talking to him,” he said. “I knew that if he fell asleep, he had a much greater chance of going into shock and that’s the last thing I wanted to happen.”
Finally, help arrived and Bainey was taken to the hospital. Doctors said the make-shift splint was so well applied, paramedics didn’t even take it off until Bainey arrived at the hospital.
“I’m very, very proud of Adam and that fact that he was able to pull upon the resources he had in himself and really help someone out,” said Flynn in December. “Boy Scouting is unlike sports where a reward for all the practice that goes into it shows on the field or court. Rewards in scouting are long-term rewards and Adam is lucky that he was able to realize this in real time. He really did the troop proud.”
Flynn said that in the troop, Kovac is quiet and reserved, but mature for his age.
“I totally wasn’t surprised when I heard this,” said Flynn. “Adam is a great kid and a great scout. He absorbs everything and when he needs something, he calls upon it and uses that with his common sense. He’s just an overall good person.”
“I thought he did a great job,” said his father. “He’s a good kid that handled the situation very well. I’m proud of him.”
