Exchange Club names Aurora officer of year
An Aurora police officer credited with saving the life of a 20-day-old baby, who had suddenly stopped breathing, was named the 2009 Aurora Exchange Club "Police Officer of the Year."
Officer Anikka Molitor responded to a call on April 10, 2009 to assist an ambulance that had been dispatched to a home on the city's near, northeast side.
Arriving before the paramedics, she administered CPR to the infant until the baby again began breathing.
The child was then taken to an Aurora hospital by Aurora firefighters and then airlifted to a suburban hospital for treatment of an ongoing medical condition.
Doctors and paramedics praised the officer's actions saying that typically, babies have only about a 1 percent chance of survival in similar circumstances.
It was announced at Tuesday's ceremony that the child celebrated her first birthday this past March.
Molitor credited the training she received and also recognized paramedics for their life saving measures on the little girl.
"The Aurora Police Department is filled with excellent officers and I'm sure that any one of them would have done the same thing," Molitor said in a written statement distributed Tuesday. "This is a shared award with the Aurora Police and Aurora Fire Departments".
Molitor began as an Aurora Police Cadet in September, 2005, and was sworn-in as a police officer in June, 2007.
Special Operations Group Investigator Damien Cantona and Detective Jeremiah Shufelt were also nominated for the award, which has been handed out annually since 1963.
Chief of Police Greg Thomas said that working with the Exchange Club to zero in on individual officers' outstanding actions each year is not an easy task.
"There are so many acts of valor and lifesaving throughout every year," he said.
The Aurora Exchange Club was established in 1937 and is affiliated with the National Exchange Club headquartered in Toledo, Ohio.
The service club supports causes that prevent child abuse and work with child abuse victims.
It also honors outstanding Fox Valley high school seniors through various scholarship programs and provides eye exams and eyeglasses to needy elementary and middle school students.