California

Eureka Agent Honored as State Farm’s Northern California Volunteer of the Year

Imagine falling from a cement truck, suffering major injuries, and having your nine-year-old son witness the entire accident. Now imagine that your son doesn’t know what to do to help you in those critical moments.

A personal accident similar to the one above is what inspired Eureka Agent Paul Nicholson to begin teaching kids about the importance of knowing how and when to dial 9-1-1. After Nicholson’s fall 10 years ago – which landed him in the hospital for several days – his son told him he didn’t know how to call for help.

“We have the most effective 9-1-1 system in the world,” stated Nicholson. “It would be sad to have a child be able to save someone but not know how. I never want children to have the same look on their face as my son did when he said he was not sure what to do in an emergency.”

Nicholson was presented with two awards for his efforts: the Citizen in Action Award from the E9-1-1 Institute in Washington, D.C., and the State Farm Volunteer of the Year award for Northern California.

Not long after the accident, Nicholson attended a Red Cross event where they used a 9-1-1 simulator. Remembering his son’s words, he personally invested his own money and gathered donations from other agents to purchase a simulator to educate young children on how to dial 9-1-1. Setting up the program in the first school was one of the biggest challenges Nicholson faced. Fortunately, one of his customers was a principal at a local elementary school.

After she let him present at her school, the local county risk manager heard about the program and asked if Nicholson would do it for other schools. When Nicholson agreed, almost immediately he began getting calls from school after school, requesting he present the program. Today, Nicholson is booked almost all year long. He tries to visit one school a week during the school year, with each session taking about five hours.

Since he started teaching kids, Nicholson has earned a reputation as “the 9-1-1 guy” around town. Earlier this year, a lady came up to Nicholson at a local bank, smiling brightly and said she wanted to talk to him. She told him the story of how her nine-year-old son saved her life by calling 9-1-1 after she had an allergic reaction to medication. She credited Nicholson for showing her son how to dial 9-1-1 during earlier visits to his grade school.

“That was an amazing day,” said Nicholson. “Just saving one life makes my program worthwhile.”