Hart woman receives lifesaving award from sheriff

OCP photo/Heather Hallack receives a lifesaving award from Oceana County Sheriff Craig Mast.

By Allison Scarbrough, News Editor

HART — Heather Hallack of Hart recently received a Michigan Sheriff’s Association Award from the Oceana County Sheriff’s Office for saving the life of another woman.

Hallack’s heroism extended beyond that courageous act when she organized a campaign that raised $36,900 to ensure all Oceana County Sheriff’s Office patrol vehicles are equipped with AEDs (automated external defibrillators).

“On July 28, 2025, Ms. Heather Hallack and her family were attending a 4-H meeting with several other families in rural Elbridge Township,” said Oceana County Sheriff Craig Mast during an awards ceremony, Oct. 8. “While they were there, Ms. Jodi Guikema collapsed.

“Ms. Hallack is a registered nurse at a local surgical center and took immediate action and began CPR,” said Sheriff Mast. “Oceana County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Fred Hutson arrived equipped with an AED and administered three different shocks, ultimately saving Ms. Guikema’s life. Without the immediate actions of Ms. Hallack and Deputy Hutson, the outcome would have likely been very different. 

“Since the incident, the actions of Deputy Hutson and Ms. Hallack have brought increased public awareness to the importance of AEDs in our community. At the time of the incident, Oceana County Sheriff’s Office did not have AEDs in all of our patrol vehicles. Ms. Hallack began her own campaign, setting up a donation account at Shelby State Bank and reaching out to several other groups. In response, three community groups partnered to raise nearly $40,000 to purchase AEDs for the entire patrol division. Had Ms. Hallack not been trained and responded with high-quality CPR, it is likely that without an AED on the scene, a life would have been lost that day. The AED project was born directly out of the incident involving Mrs. Guikema. We have a community that supports each other.”

The three community groups involved in the AED funding project were Shelby State Bank, Oceana County Women Who Care and the Silver Lake Recreation Alliance.

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