12/23/2003 - TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. (AFPN) -- Two days before Thanksgiving, Bob Green and his wife, Mary, came to shop at the commissary.
While such trips are not usually very momentous, this one proved to be a lifesaver for the 68-year-old retired Air Force technical sergeant who suddenly became ill that day. Sitting on a bench while his wife shopped, he found himself feeling extreme fatigue.
Bob rejoined Mary in the checkout line and the last thing he said he remembers is that she turned to him and commented on how pale he was.
He collapsed at her side and by the time he hit the floor, he was not breathing.
Mary knelt by Bob, trying to rouse him. Two women waiting to check out began cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). A third shopper tried to find a pulse as Bobs coloring changed from ashen to blue.
Manuel Othon, store administrator at the commissary, was not supposed to be working that day. But he had come in to help with the pre-holiday rush and was walking through the store when an employee caught his arm and told him he was needed at the front. Just then, an alarm sounded, alerting him the Automated External Defibrillator has been removed from the wall.
Othon rushed to the registers where the customer service manager handed him the AED.
Recalling what had learned in the CPR/AED class, Othon bared Bob’s chest, affixed the pads and followed voice prompts from the AED that told him an electrical shock was needed.
The first shock was easily delivered, but produced no apparent change in Bob’s condition. The AED indicated the need for a second shock, which it also administered. The second jolt restored Bob’s heartbeat, but he still was not breathing on his own. The customer continued mouth-to-mouth breathing for him until an emergency squad arrived from the Tinker Fire Department.
After stabilizing the retiree, the squad transported him to a local hospital. Tests there showed that Bob’s heart attack was caused by 100-percent blockage of one blood vessel in his heart and 99-percent blockage in a second vessel.
He underwent immediate surgery to implant two stents to restore the blood flow through the affected vessels. Bob spent one night in the hospitals cardiac-care unit and the next day was moved to a regular room. His doctor discharged him Thanksgiving Day.
It didn’t dawn on me what had happened and what I had done, Othon said. It was a little emotional.
The episode also proved very emotional for Mary, who was taken from her husband’s side to an office.
“There wasn’t anything I could do”, Mary said.
To Othon and the other commissary staff, as well as the shoppers who performed CPR on Bob, she said she feels immense gratitude. Othon, too, said he is grateful to the people in the commissary that day, particularly those who helped administer CPR and others who responded to a public-address announcement that asked anyone with a medical background to come to the front of the store.
I’m glad they were there, Mary said. I can look back now and breathe easy. But at the time, it was terrifying.
Bob still has some blockage in the vessels to his heart, but it is being controlled with medication.
Mr. Green was clinically dead; his only chance for survival was the immediate application of electricity.
I always thought I was the picture of health, Bob said. I had NO chest pain, I just felt terrible.
Bob is living proof that AEDs do work, and people quickly using AEDs can save lives.
An AED strikes again……J
Michigan School Staffers Save Girl with Defibrillator
Nov 6th 2007
FLINT, Mich. -- Ashley Palmer, 17, a student at Davison Alternative High School, knows she owes her life to the quick action of school staff and an in-school defibrillator.
Lorraine “Lori” Ayers, 42, of Richfield Township, Ashley’s mother, said a Hurley Medical Center doctor credited the quick work and defibrillator for saving her daughter’s life Oct. 24 outside the school.
On Monday night, the Board of Education and a crowd of spectators gave the mother, her daughter and four staff members a standing ovation.
Diagnosed 18 months ago with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a heart condition that causes her heart to suddenly race, Ashley had her worst-ever attack as she left school Oct. 24 to go home. When she collapsed outside the school, staff members rushed to her side with the defibrillator and found her with no heartbeat and not breathing.
Acting on the training they received earlier this year, four staff members quickly hooked Ashley up to the machine, restarted her heart and breathing with the defibrillator and performed CPR.
Honored Monday were Christina McWilliams, secretary to the Davison High School principal; Cheri Steinkraus, the attendance secretary; Evelyn Ailing, a high school math teacher; and Jason Vannest, a guidance counselor. Vannest was not able to attend the board meeting.
Ashley spent eight days in the hospital and now has a tiny defibrillator installed in her chest and is on new medicine to control her heart, Ayers said.
Ayers and Ashley hugged each of the rescuers at the meeting, and Ayers choked with emotion when she expressed her thanks for the quick work of the staff.
“If the defibrillator had not been there, she would have been gone,” Ayers told the board. “I want to thank you all so much. I hope all the schools have it. Thank you so much for saving my daughter.”
More school districts are investing in the portable devices. In 2004, the Flushing school district reportedly was the first in the county to place an automated external defibrillator in every school building.
Other districts followed, including Flint, which approved fitting all school buildings with defibrillators in 2006.
Ashley hugged and thanked her rescuers. She has no memory of the attack or the rescue effort.
The four staff members have earned a new nickname around the school - “Ashley’s Angels” - said Sue Henkel, principal of the alternative high school.
Staff members said they were grateful for the training they received.
“I thank God for our training,” McWilliams said. “I had never done CPR for real, and it’s not like on the mannequin. It’s the scariest thing I’ve ever done. I truly believe God intervened.”
Ailing said she was in the office and overheard the call for help to 911 and rushed to Ashley.
“It was like running in slow motion,” Ailing said. “It was a little overwhelming.”
Superintendent Clay Perkins said a recording in the device indicated that the machine was employed in seconds and that the four staffers could not have acted any quicker.
Again, another life saved! Call us to find out how to implement your own AED Program for your Church, School, Nursing Home, Office, Recreation Center, Daycare, Private Home, Apartment Complex and the list could go on and on. AEDs are quickly becoming the standard of care.
An AED Program is very simple and affordable to implement. It takes just a few minutes of your time to figure out how many AEDs you need and how many people we will need to train for your location. Training in CPR and AED use is necessary and can be done in a few hours.
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Like the stories above, their lives have been changed forever and it’s a happy ending.
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