COEUR d’ALENE — Dan Bowman went to Safeway after work to pick up a few things before heading home.

As he was checking out, he heard a commotion at the self-check area and glanced over.

First, he didn’t see anything, his vision blocked by a display. Then, he looked again and saw a person on the floor. He knew the person needed help and 911 had been called.

“Does anybody know CPR?” a clerk asked.

No one moved.

Bowman, one of about eight people in the Fourth Street store on a late May afternoon, did not have CPR training. Yet, he knew he had to help.

“I couldn't in good conscience walk out of that store and not do something,” he said.

Bowman checked the elderly man for a pulse and didn’t find one. He wasn’t breathing, either, so Bowman began chest compressions.

He kept it up for several minutes.

“It felt like forever,” he said, laughing as he recounted what happened in a phone interview with The Press. “He wasn't responding at all. I was thinking, 'Where are the professionals?’”

On the way.

Firefighters arrived within a few minutes and took over life-saving efforts.

A relieved Bowman stepped back as they continued chest compressions for about five to 10 minutes. They finally got a pulse and the man was whisked to Kootenai Health, where he recovered.

“It’s a good feeling for sure,” said Bowman, committee chair for Pack 1 Cub Scouts and longtime Scout leader.

Bowman said they later reached the man’s wife at Kootenai Health and she told them he was improving.

“That was the moment I felt like I had done something good,” Bowman said.

His efforts were noticed.

Jason Charland, program executive, Boy Scouts of America, Inland Northwest Council, presented Bowman with the Medal of Honor at a recent Pack 1 Cub Scout meeting in Coeur d'Alene.

The Medal of Merit is awarded to Scouts and Scouters who have performed an act of meritorious service above and beyond that normally expected of a youth or adult member of the Boy Scouts of America.

“Dan utilized his Scout training, stayed calm, and jumped into action,” Charland said.

Bowman was humbled to receive the award.

“It’s an honor,” he said.

Charland said he has known Bowman for several years and wasn’t surprised he responded so well under pressure.

"Sometimes people lock up in a situation like this,” he said.

He described Bowman as a “nice guy willing to help out when and wherever possible.”

Bowman may have saved the man’s life.

It was later determined that had Bowman not performed CPR, the man "would not have survived,” Charland said.

Dan and his wife, Jamie, also a Scout leader, met the man and his wife this summer and they chatted over homemade muffins. Both couples live in Coeur d’Alene.

The man was grateful and told Bowman he was “happy to be alive.”

“He was 1,000% better than the first time I saw him,” Bowman said, laughing. “It’s a good feeling to know he’s still around.”

The man declined to speak to The Press about what happened. His wife told Bowman her husband’s recovery was “truly a miracle.”

Bowman, whose son is a Boy Scout, said he hopes he inspires others to respond in emergency situations.

“Just because you don’t know 100% what to do doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do something,” he said.