Waukon native Shawna (Kerndt) McDowell honored by Wisconsin DNR with special Lifesaving Award
Wisconsin DNR Conservation Warden Shawna (Kerndt) McDowell
Waukon native Shawna (Kerndt) McDowell, a Conservation Warden for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) stationed at Viroqua, WI in Vernon County, was one of several officers who received a Lifesaving Award at a Special Awards Ceremony hosted by the Wisconsin DNR Tuesday, September 27 at the Wisconsin State Capitol Assembly Chamber in Madison, WI. The awards were distributed by Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes, Wisconsin Division of Public Safety and Resource Protection Chief Casey Krueger and Wisconsin DNR Deputy Secretary Sarah Barry.
The criteria for receiving the special Lifesaving Award notes that a DNR employee “performed an act that intended to save a person’s life. It appeared at the time of the act that the person in jeopardy would not have a chance of survival without the employee’s actions or assistance.”
The narrative of Warden McDowell’s lifesaving act reads as follows:
July 25, 2020, Warden Shawna McDowell responded to a call of a person laying in a roadway (near Ontario, WI) without a pulse and not breathing. When Warden McDowell and Vernon County Sheriff Deputy (Jake) Johnson arrived, they found a 52-year-old male who had been biking with a group and collapsed on the side of the road.
Members of the group began doing CPR on him. Warden McDowell took over CPR and Deputy (Jake) Johnson used the AED and they were able to bring the subject back to life. The heroic actions of Warden McDowell saved his life that day.
WI DNR Warden Shawna McDowell is the former Shawna Kerndt and a 1991 graduate of Waukon High School. She has been a WI DNR Conservation Warden for more than two decades. Her father, Bill Kerndt, lives in Waukon.
