Council Honors Former Mayor for CPR Awareness

Former Beverly Hills Mayor Les Bronte received the city's first Heroic Individual Award at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

In addition to years of community volunteer work, Bronte led the revamp of a program that , garnering accolades from the Health & Safety Commission and council members. The CPR program started in 1977 and has trained more than 87,000 people, according to Bronte and the organization's website.

City officials additionally honored his participation in , a teenage DUI-prevention initiative.

"Les has served in many leadership positions, and in every capacity he emphasized health, safety, security and emergency preparedness," Councilman Julian Gold said. "He is one of the reasons that Beverly Hills has a large contingent of residents who are trained and ready to respond to a disaster."

Upon accepting his award, Bronte acknowledged members of the city's fire and police departments who were in attendance and called on them to stand for a round of applause.

"[The CPR] program means a lot to all of us, as do all the safety programs that are made available in our community," Bronte said. "Please take advantage of them. The life you save can be your own, your family or a friend."

He then gave a heads-up on a forthcoming revival of the Certified Emergency Response Team, or CERT.

"We're working on having this come back as a private entity in the community," Bronte said.

Gold, a medical doctor, urged CPR training for all.

"On a very personal level, I would tell you it's a skill you should have," he said. "So if you're interested, there's Mr. Bronte."

Mayor Barry Brucker explained that the goal of the new is "to recognize individuals and groups who have improved the health and safety of Beverly Hills in exceptional ways."

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