GreyStone Employee Credited with Saving Infant's Life

GreyStone Power employees Chris Foust of Dallas and Leroy Perryman of Austell were both recognized recently for saving a life. Each received a Life Saving Award from Georgia Electric Membership Corp. (Georgia EMC) on Nov. 10 during the state association annual meeting in Savannah.

Foust, the supervisor of building and grounds at GreyStone, was recognized for rescuing a woman from drowning.

Last fall, Foust was vacationing with his family at a water park in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. After climbing three stories to slide down a tube with his children, Foust saw a man flip off his float after exiting the bottom of the slide. Foust noticed the man struggling, but the lifeguard jumped in to assist. As Foust returned to his children, he saw a woman exit the slide, flip off her float, go into the water, and not come up. Realizing the lifeguard was still assisting the man, Foust rushed to her and helped keep her head above water while moving her toward the side of the pool.

The couple had both aspirated water, so Foust, who has CPR training, stayed with them to assist if needed. He learned that neither could swim and had chosen the slide in error, believing it ended in a shallow pool.

Said Foust of the rescue: “I didn’t do anything amazing, but I could see the lifeguard needed help. Even on vacation, you’re always looking around, making sure people are OK.”

Perryman, a stock clerk at GreyStone, was recognized by the state cooperative association for saving an infant’s life.

While attending the Douglasville Fourth of July parade, Perryman struck up a conversation with a gentleman who was caring for several of his grandchildren. After about 20 minutes of waiting for the parade to begin, Perryman overheard the man’s grandson ask him where his little brother was and learned that the baby was around the corner in the car, asleep.

With the temperature that day at least 85 degrees, Perryman was concerned that the child, less than a year old, might choke or otherwise be harmed by the heat in the car. He asked the child’s grandfather if he’d heard about small children dying in hot cars, which had been headline news that summer in Atlanta. The man had not heard and was reluctant to wake the baby, saying he would be fine. “I had to get upset with him,” said Perryman, who insisted that the man get the baby and went with him to make sure he did.

“I just did what any parent or any Christian would do,” said Perryman about receiving the award.

Foust and Perryman were among 11 employees from six electric membership corporations to be recognized with a Life Saving Award during Georgia EMC’s annual meeting. The Life Saving Award was established to recognize EMC employees whose quick thinking and actions are instrumental in safeguarding others from dangerous or potentially deadly situations.

Georgia EMC is the statewide trade association representing the state’s 41 electric cooperatives, Oglethorpe Power Corp., Georgia Transmission Corp. and Georgia System Operations Corp. Through this statewide network, the EMCs provide electricity and related services to more than four million people, nearly half of Georgia’s population, across 73 percent of the state’s land area.

GreyStone Power serves more than 108,000 members in portions of eight counties, including Paulding, Douglas, Fulton, Cobb, Carroll, Bartow, Fayette and Coweta counties. Learn more at www.greystonepower.com.