CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The Access Doctors Medical Center in Garfield Ridge honored a Chicago Police officer for successfully defusing a tense situation with a patient several months ago.
The award designated 45-year-old Police Officer Chuck Trendle a "community champion" for calming a female patient down at physician offices on West 55th Street and making sure she got the hospital treatment she needed.
"It's not so much the award. It's what the award means. Because she is a person who needs a lot of help,” said office manager Elsa Torres.
She was there when they called 9-1-1 about the patient and when Officer Trendle responded.
"I think the extra work he did for this patient actually meant a lot. It meant a change in the patient's life,” Torres said.
Trendle said knowing how to defuse a situation seems to come naturally to him.
"I have a brother who's in and out of institutions. I learned young with him how to talk to him when he's in crisis,” he said.