Retired and Off-Duty Emergency Responders Save Father-of-the-Bride During Wedding Reception

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By Gina Mayfield

At a wedding reception in Sarasota, Florida, photographer Stacy Boyce set up her camera equipment just beyond the edge of the dance floor in anticipation of the father/daughter dance. Soon after, the bride and her father began their long-planned choreographed dance routine. “They were kicking it to this Taylor Swift song that started out slow and then became more upbeat,” Stacy says of the moment before everything changed.

The father of the bride, Brad, suddenly fell backwards and struck his head on a cement surface. Things became chaotic as guests emotionally responded to the scene, and a couple of people rushed over to help, including the bride’s cousin’s husband, Kord, a firefighter/EMT. “As soon as I saw the bride’s face, all of my training took over,” he says. “It felt like I was on autopilot, I didn’t think, I just acted and used the skills I’ve learned. My adrenaline was pumping like crazy.”

“It’s all happening in what feels like split seconds,” Stacy says. “I’m watching what’s going on. I wear two cameras and have a lot of gear strapped to me.”

Then Stacy’s husband came over to her and said, “Babe, they need you. You’ve got to go get in there.” Turns out she was a firefighter/EMT too and had a background as a first responder and in emergency medical services (EMS). “It had been five years since I was out on the field. I was more or less retired from firefighting, but you don’t forget all that stuff,” she says.

Stacy Boyce, Rescuer

Stacy and her husband unloaded her photo gear and she went over to Kord to help him assess the situation. She told him about her own background and said, “Let’s do this together, I’m here to help you.” Brad was checked for a pulse and any signs of breathing. “Kord looked at me. We locked eyes for a second, and he says, ‘I don’t have a pulse.’ And I said, ‘It’s time for CPR,’” Stacy says.

Kord ripped open Brad’s shirt and started compressions that Stacy describes as “textbook perfect.” A member of the catering staff rushed over with the AED. A shock was advised, and that’s when reality really started to set in.

Stacy delivered the shock to Brad. “Within 10 seconds he was regaining color and consciousness,” she says. “He started to breathe on his own and we got him back.”

“I will never forget the feeling of relief that washed over me when Brad grabbed my hand in the middle of my compressions, or the surprise when I asked him if he could hear me, and he responded,” he says.

Kord Webb, Rescuer

Moments later, medics arrived on scene. “I looked over to see one of my instructors from the fire academy kneeling next to me, and I gave him a quick rundown of everything as I remembered it,” Kord says. “Once they got Brad in the ambulance, they said he was joking with them and that’s when part of me just knew everything was going to be fine.”

The family provided a quick synopsis of Brad’s health to the medics. He had no history of a heart condition and no known risk factors. He was rushed by ambulance to the hospital, accompanied by his wife, the mother of the bride. All the wedding vendors, including the DJ, came together and unanimously agreed to reschedule their services for another time, at no charge to the bride and groom. But the family decided to continue the reception after taking about an hour to regroup. They knew that’s what Brad would want them to do.

Stacy pulled herself together and began to process that she had just been involved in a rescue for the first time in years. “I used to be able to compartmentalize things because I was wearing a uniform and drove an ambulance. But this time it was like my two worlds were colliding,” she shares.

Family members thanked her, and she had the opportunity to shake Kord’s hand and tell him that he did “a hell of a job out there.” As it turned out, that was the first time he had ever performed CPR. “Even though I had been working as an EMT for over a year and a half, I was only a few months into my firefighting career. I never ran any cardiac arrest calls,” he says. “I’ve had my fair share of CPR training between my time in the Marine Corps infantry and various classes since starting my journey as an EMT, so I believe it was a lot of muscle memory that guided me through it.”

Stacy later learned that the bride’s aunt worked at an office with an emergency response plan and she was the AED point person, so she knew to immediately go retrieve the AED. Unable to run back fast enough in high heels, she had passed the AED to the catering staffer wearing sneakers who ran it back to Stacy. “You better believe I look for an AED at every venue now,” Stacy says with a smile.

After Brad’s fall, Emily, the bride, had been whisked away to another room so she wouldn’t have to witness the trauma. “That’s not how you want to remember the day, because heaven forbid, if her dad hadn’t come back that would be the last memory she would have of him,” Stacy says. “We didn’t want that for her.”

Out of love and support for the family, the guests stayed for the rest of the evening. The night continued with toasts and speeches, and, of course, the cake cutting and more dancing. Later, Stacy heard from the family that the cardiac surgeon had said that the shock she administered had saved Brad’s life. He had heart surgery and now has a great prognosis. He was quickly released from the ICU, and Kord and his family got to go visit him. “He was already back to his normal self,” Kord says. “I’m just grateful I could help give his family more time with him.”

“It takes a village. Lots of people need to be trained in CPR. Laypeople need to be trained,” Stacy says. “You can’t just hope that maybe somebody like a nurse, doctor or firefighter will be available to help. You can’t just think that way. Everybody should be trained.”

Months later, on Father’s Day, the family returned to the wedding venue and enjoyed the meal they would have had together at the wedding. They’ll have many more meals, holidays and celebrations to share in the future. “If things had ended differently, this whole story would have been tragic,” Stacy says. “But it really was a happy ending.”

A Note from the Bride
“My family can’t thank Kord and Stacy enough for being heroes that day and stepping in to save a life. Every second counts in a situation like that. As stunned as everyone was to witness something so devastating, especially at a wedding, Kord and Stacy knew exactly what to do and swiftly jumped in.

Emily and Brad during Father Daughter dance

During the wedding planning process, Jayson and I hired Garry and Stacy (husband and wife photography team), and felt so confident with our decision. We immediately connected with them and felt so comfortable being in their hands. Who knew, a year after connecting, Stacy would be the one to help save my dad’s life with the AED and that her being a retired firefighter/EMT would come in handy. She was there for a reason.

Kord performed such a selfless and admirable act that day. I did not see the CPR take place, but I was told by many that he did a phenomenal job. Today, Kord works as a firefighter/EMT for the City of Venice, Florida.”

The AHA is committed to transforming a nation of bystanders into a Nation of Lifesavers. Join the movement that can make a difference in the life of someone’s partner, parent, friend, or family.

Grocery Store Worker Saved by Quick-Responding Co-Workers and In-Store AED

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By Gina Mayfield

ShopRite’s event celebrating the Jeff’s return, which included the rescuers and executives from the home office:
Dolly Gheradi, Produce Clerk
Alina Svizzero, SRS Human Resources
Brandon Walsh, Non-foods Clerk
Scott Busta, Dairy Manager
Jeff Miller, Survivor, Assistant Produce Manager
Mike Schoedorf, SRS VP of Operations
Jon Gregory, Store Manager
John Dearni, SRS District Manager
Mike Martin, SRS VP of Merchandising

On a summer day at the ShopRite grocery store in Hudson, New York, 68-year-old assistant produce manager Jeff Miller started a typical shift, just as he had for the past 30-plus years. A jovial guy, Jeff called his store manager, Jon Gregory, from the prep room of the produce department. They had a brief conversation with the usual laughing, joking and back-and-forth banter as they planned their day.

Then Jeff hung up the phone. “He turns around, and his heart just stopped. To the floor he goes. Thank God somebody was in the room with him,” recounts Jeff’s wife, Joan, whose Apple watch alerted her of the hard fall and automatically alerted EMS.

That “somebody” in the room was Dolly Gheradi, a colleague of Jeff’s who radioed for immediate help. Within seconds, the dairy department manager, Scott Busta came rushing in from the opposite corner of the store and started administering CPR.

Jon arrived next. “I got there and saw that Jeff was purple, so I ran out to the guest service desk and grabbed the AED machine,” he says. The pharmacist, Brian Chapin, also rushed in help, as did Brandon Walsh from the non-foods area. After Jon administered two shocks, Jeff regained his natural color and they continued with chest compressions as directed by the AED. “Within seven minutes, he was back,” Joan says.

Greenport Rescue Squad arrived and stabilized Jeff as they rushed him to Albany Medical Center. For obvious reasons, Jeff woke up disoriented and confused because he had no memory of the incident. “He was getting agitated because he didn’t know what happened. So finally, the ER doctor just looked at him and jokingly said, ‘Jeff, you were dead. You’re not going to remember a thing,’ “Joan says with a chuckle, noting she thinks that’s “the best line on the planet.”

Jeff spent a week at the hospital being referred to as the “miracle patient,” received 2 stents without incident and was discharged with a cardiac rehab plan to regain his stamina before returning to work. Fast forward 16 weeks and Jeff has now returned to his full-time schedule at ShopRite, which hosted an event to celebrate everyone involved in the rescue.

As it turned out, Jon had just used an AED in another store the previous year and Scott had been a lifeguard in his younger years. Jeff was his 12th rescue and the hardest to resuscitate. Jeff was left with 11 cracked ribs – and his life.

“He had no warning, no dizziness, no chest pain, no nothing. He just went down. People call it a widowmaker. He’s 100% fine. They did such a remarkable job,” Joan says, noting that not one month prior, the store offered CPR/AED recertification for its employees. “Everything was fresh. People aren’t aware that grocery stores are trained in CPR/AED,” Joan says. “Not all of them are obviously, but this one is, and they saved my husband’s life.”

The AHA is committed to transforming a nation of bystanders into a Nation of Lifesavers. Join the movement that can make a difference in the life of someone’s partner, parent, friend, or family.

Co-Workers Come Together to Save Colleague’s Life at Work

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By Gina Mayfield

Three women standing next to each other.
The three individuals who provided heart-saving CPR & AED usage. (Left to Right: Carmen Christeleit, Katie Carbone, and Diane Mazza

Four hours after a new colleague arrived for his first day on the job with Buckhead Meat Co., he took a seat in the sales manager’s office for training. Just a few minutes later, the manager noticed his new hire had slumped over in his seat. “Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!” the manager started to yell, which alerted others in the area that something wasn’t quite right.

Diane Mazza, who happened to be nearby, passed the office, glanced in and instinctively knew to quickly grab the AED. When she returned, things had not improved. “He was still not moving. He had a blue hue to him,” she says. “I asked the sales manager and another bystander to put him on the ground.” She began CPR. “I figured I needed to get blood flowing to his brain. That’s all I’m thinking, I’ve got to get air into his lungs,” she recalls.

Diane could hear the 911 call in the background as she ripped off the man’s shirt, which revealed a large scar clearly indicating a surgical incision over his heart. Still, the 911 operator gave her permission to immediately began chest compressions and breaths. “I didn’t check for a pulse because I wasn’t sure if I could find it. My adrenaline was out of control,” Diane says. “I was going to just keep doing CPR until help arrived, because nobody wants to die at work.”

That help arrived in a coworker, Carmen Christeleit, who opened the AED. “I put on the pads and shocked him twice. We got nothing,” Diane says. Diane and Katie Carbone, another coworker who had stepped in to help, took turns performing CPR while a crowd had gathered just outside the windowed office willing their new colleague to just breathe.  

EMTs arrived in record speed and unloaded their AED. When asked if they wanted to take over, the EMTs responded that Diane and Katie were “doing a great job” and finished prepping their AED. An EMT soon took over CPR, while Katie continued breaths. Once the AED was set up, they administered a shock. The colleague jolted and looked up at Katie. “I called his name and he looked at me again, which was a great sign. He knew his name and what direction to look. He finally woke up,” she says.

EMTs loaded the survivor into the ambulance, but he lost consciousness again, then came back around and began speaking coherently. With lights and sirens, the ambulance took off for John F. Kennedy University Medical Center in Edison, New Jersey. But, come to find out, the survivor lived about an hour and a half away in Pennsylvania and was training to expand the sales territory in that direction.

Patricia Benjamin, another colleague, stayed with the survivor in the hospital as his wife, back in Pennsylvania, quickly worked the phones to arrange for medical transport. He continued to improve. “He was up, he was pink, which was fabulous to see, but I had never even met him before that moment,” Patricia says. “His personal belongings hadn’t made their way to him, he didn’t have his glasses, and he didn’t know anybody. We quickly became friends.”

The colleague, in his late 50s, knew that without his rescuers the call to his family would have gone very differently for his two young sons, aged 10 and 12. “He was very, very emotional and very thankful,” Patricia says. “Turned out that he had a pacemaker that did not have a defibrillator attached to it. Needless to say, it does now. But that was the thing, the pacemaker couldn’t restart without the defibrillator.”

Before being transported back home, the survivor jokingly told the nurse on duty that he felt like the luckiest man alive and was going to play the lottery numbers 5/20 for the rest of his life, referring to the date of his rescue. “Don’t be greedy,” she quipped with a smile. “You just won the lottery of life.”

Truth be told, he was extraordinarily fortunate to have been surrounded by trained rescuers at the moment of his cardiac arrest, and not alone at home as he was in the days leading up to his new job.

Buckhead Meat Co., a division of Sysco Food Service, offers regular on-site CPR training at no cost to employees and ensures people from each area of the building participate. Katie had attended a recent session that she says made a real impact. “It was the first time I’ve had formal CPR training, so obviously I’m very grateful that we were given that opportunity through Sysco because the training was fantastic. The mankin provided helpful feedback regarding rate and depth of compressions. The training definitely made a difference in this outcome.”

The AHA is committed to transforming a nation of bystanders into a Nation of Lifesavers. Join the movement that can make a difference in the life of someone’s partner, parent, friend, or family.

Workplace Emergency Response Team Saves Co-Worker’s Life with Training and Planning

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By Gina Mayfield

Just after midnight at an automotive plant in the Midwest, a “man down” call went out over the All Call System. Matthew Gochenour, a member of the plant’s Emergency Response Team (ERT), immediately jumped into action and ran to the designated area not knowing what – or who – he would find. There, he found a co-worker he had known personally for a couple of years laying on the ground unconscious.

“I rolled him over and noticed he wasn’t breathing. Then he started taking agonal breaths. I checked for a pulse. There wasn’t one,” Gochenour says. “I called for some of the people nearby to get the AED and started compressions and breaths.”

About three minutes after the call went out, ERT leadership arrived along with Security and the plant’s on-site nurse. At about the same time, a fire protection officer (FPO) delivered the AED to the scene. “The FPO shocked the patient a few times, and on the fourth time he started coming to. We had a pulse,” Gochenour says, noting they worked on the patient for a good 10 – 20 minutes before he regained consciousness.

After the ambulance arrived at the designated door closest to the incident, EMS hooked up a heart monitor and glanced at each other with concern. “Looks like VTAC,” one of them said, referring to ventricular tachycardia, an abnormal heart rhythm that occurs when the lower chamber of the heart beats too quickly to pump effectively and the body doesn’t get enough oxygenated blood.

The patient began to flatline repeatedly as he was loaded into the ambulance and rushed to the nearest emergency room where he eventually had a triple bypass. Weeks after his cardiac arrest, the patient is still in recovery and grateful to everyone who helped save this life.

The ERT eventually got together for a debriefing of sorts, always looking for ways to improve. “Next time I hear that someone’s unconscious, I’m just going to grab the AED,” Gochenour says. Fortunately, the 30-member ERT takes yearly Basic Life Support classes including Basic First Aid, CPR/AED and Stop the Bleed. The team is split between three shifts to ensure they’re always at the ready, which they were during the midnight hour when this incident occurred.

“This was actually my first year of being a part of the Emergency Response Team,” Gochenour says. “So, I was just glad to have that training and understanding of what to do. Instinct took over, and that training kept me in the right line of thought: I need to do what I need to do to get this guy back.”

The AHA is committed to transforming a nation of bystanders into a Nation of Lifesavers. Join the movement that can make a difference in the life of someone’s partner, parent, friend, or family.

The CPR Lady (Part 2)

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By Gina Mayfield

Dr. Brown tells her story in her own words, below.

Why did you become an instructor?
My mother, who was a trauma nurse in a hospital emergency room, started me with the American Heart Association when I was 16 years old. I fell in love with CPR. There was something about hope. And then I started hearing so many people say, “My grandmother, died. She collapsed, and we called for help, and they just didn’t get there in time.” And I couldn’t take it. I was like, Katherine, you’ve got an opportunity to teach people that didn’t do anything, they just stood there, because they didn’t know that there was something that they could do. And that’s when I left my position at an inner-city hospital and opened up the CPR company.

Dr. Brown holding a book she wrote
Dr. Brown with her book, I Am Courageous

How long have you been involved with the American Heart Association and in what capacities have you served?
Well, like I said, since the age of 16 as a volunteer. I have been the Southeastern Region Community Service Chair and the Southeastern Region Advocacy Chair. I’ve been on that the government team for Tennessee. I’ve done the Go Red for Women campaign. I’ve been a training center faculty member. I serve on the AHA’s Emergency Cardiovascular Care (ECC) Committee. I’m the current Lay Rescuer CPR Chair for the National ECC Committee. I’m on an AHA writing group. I do a lot for my Nashville AHA office. I’ve done the Minority Health committees. I’m currently on a National Diversity Leadership Committee for the AHA. I just got appointed to the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) on their diversity task force. It’s a lot of things – local, regional and national.

Are you involved with a specific training site?
The world is my literally training center. Remember, you don’t have to be aligned with anybody just to teach. I went to Medellin, Columbia. Guess what I took on the plane with me? CPR manikin. Same with Johannesburg, South Africa. That’s how I’ve ended up teaching so many people. I just feel that everyone really, really needs to know CPR.

Tell us about your approach to CPR training.
Be fearless and be innovative, that’s my approach. And I’m not afraid of people. So remember, most instructors say, “I’m going to host a class at this location.” But why are you waiting for people to come to you? If there’s a group of people congregated, that’s your class. I’m just going to disrupt with a “Heyyyyy…” You will usually get a “yes” if you just have the courage to make the ask.

Do you have any best practices you would like to share, anything unique that can be replicated or utilized by others?
If I approach someone about learning CPR, and they say no, I don’t take the no instantly. I’ll say, “Tell me why.” They’ll likely explain to me that they don’t want to hurt anyone. So I’ll say, “Can I share with you a simple math problem? What is death plus death? They say, “Death.” I’m like, “Yeah, it is, so what’s death plus CPR? Sounds like a chance, right?” They’ll say, “Yeah.” So I say, “Do you think people deserve a chance? If something happened to you, would you want a chance? Everybody wants a chance. I’m just asking you to trust me for a few minutes and let me show you. That’s it. If you don’t want to push, let me explain it to you first and show you.” Then I teach them. And I say, “Now, can you put your hand here for me, you don’t have to push, just let me show you.” It’s just a slow progression. Don’t forget to do this in your own families as well.

What specific training do you offer?
Early on, seeing those emergency rooms where my mother worked, I felt that sometimes the cost of being trained was a barrier, because instructors have to charge, but everybody doesn’t have money. Saving a life is priceless. You couldn’t put a price tag on it. So, around 2008, when the AHA really came out with that push for Hands-Only CPR, it really gave me a different tool, a different arsenal. I just feel like it’s hope in the darkest communities. And I do CPR classes. I do the Healthcare Professional class as well as the Heartsaver class, both the First Aid and AED. But the majority of my work is with people who can’t pay me, people who might never take a CPR class. They’re the people who will take a moment to give me those 15 minutes of their life so they can go back into their communities and make a difference.

Do you utilize any community products?
I do. The AHA produces community products. That’s what I specialize in. I have a video of me teaching Hands-Only CPR on the AHA website. I also do the CPR Anytime Kits, I do the Essential Eight. But I feel like CPR is just one tool, and it’s reactive. So I try be proactive by reminding people to make sure they lower their salt intake and get their blood pressure checked. It’s easy to integrate those things into my classes. And anytime AHA comes out with something new, I use it. I think that we have to equip and empower our communities in very innovative ways, so I try not to miss opportunities. I always tell people, download the AHA app. Sign up for the You’re the Cure network, because you can get the advocacy alerts in your community. These are simple things the average instructor isn’t doing. The AHA website is a never-ending reservoir of knowledge.

What barriers to learning CPR do we as instructors have to break down?
Another best practice for me is Don’t let money be a barrier. There are a lot of instructors saying, “I have to charge this amount or that amount.” You know what? That life that you save by reducing that cost, or having a time where you offer so many classes at no charge, will be a blessing to other people. People ask me, “Why are you so successful in CPR? We’ve never met somebody like you who’s trained over 300,000 people for free, around the world. I say because I focus on people. People matter. As long as you keep people at the core of what you do, you could do almost anything. That’s the key. I think instructors need to realize that, to put people first. Always remember why you became an instructor.

Any advice for someone else who notices the need for a new trail to be blazed?
You know your community best. Listen and do what your community needs. Focus on that. What works for me in the places I serve, nationally and internationally, might not work in your community. The work we do is tough. You’ve got to be resilient. If you put out a registration form and host a class, and no one shows up, do it again. We give up too soon. I’ve been teaching CPR thirty-something years, and the AHA is 100 years old, and the message hasn’t changed. We’re still fighting. Keep showing up.

What motivates you?
I can’t guarantee that if you perform CPR, your loved one will survive. I can’t guarantee that the stranger you try to help will make it, but I just want to teach people and encourage them to give somebody a chance. Just give them a chance. All of my children are involved in this work, because it really makes a difference.

Favorite AHA events?
Listen, I just got to go to Chicago for the AHA centennial anniversary celebration. I had a dream come true because I got to dance with Nancy Brown while they were playing Stayin’ Alive! That was my favorite event in the world. That will never happen again. But I do love Heart Walks too.

What was your most memorable experience as an instructor?
I was teaching a Boy Scout troop, and this mother came in and said, “Dr. Katherine, that’s the baby.” I was like, “What? What baby?” Turns out, I had taught this mother while she was pregnant with the son I was currently teaching. I love seeing generations. Another time, I taught a granddaughter, mother and a grandmother who was 100 years old doing CPR for the first time in her life.

Social Media:
#LearnCPRAmerica
#DrKatherineYBrown

Instagram:
@DrKatherineYBrown
@LearnCPRAMERICA

Facebook:
@DrKatherineBrown
@LearnCPRAmerica

Twitter:
@KatherineYBrown
@LearnCPRAmerica

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherineybrown/

The CPR Lady (Part 1)

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By Gina Mayfield

About 20 years ago, Dr. Katherine Y. Brown launched a freestanding CPR company on the South Side of Chicago, knowing the underserved people living there were the least likely to get CPR. She thought, If you build it, they will come.

Dr. Katherine Y. Brown receiving award

They didn’t come. So she went to them. At last count, she has taught more than 300,000 people to administer CPR in a safe, timely and efficient manner.

But all those years ago, Dr. Katherine, who holds a doctorate in education, had to go find people to teach. That meant showing up at churches on Easter Sunday, visiting sorority houses during rush week, and if a local store had weave on sale and a long line, she was there with her manikin. “Here’s my premise,” she says. “If you don’t come to me, I’m going to come to you, but I’m going to be strategic and go to places that I know you’re going to be at.” She started canvassing parks and housing projects, where she would find sometimes people playing basketball. “I would just go up to them and say, ‘Hey, if something happens out here, do y’all know what to do?’ They would just look at me like I was this crazy woman, and ask, ‘What do you mean?’ And there I was with my manikin, and I would teach them CPR,” she says.

At one point she was going door to door, sometimes with a baby on her hip, or standing on street corners with a sign that read: Honk if you know CPR. If you don’t, pull over and I’ll teach you. And she did. Eventually, she became known around town as The CPR Lady. Eventually, people did start coming to her. “What winded up happening was that I started getting calls from people in other states asking me to come. And I was like, This is not just training, it’s a movement,” Dr. Katherine says. “So I decided the name of my company should be a call to action: Learn CPR America. I felt like every household needs somebody trained.”

A mother of four, Dr. Brown founded the Roberta Baines-Wheeler Pulmonary Hypertension Awareness Group in honor of her own late mother and developed a leadership academy that bears her name, in part to train the next generation of global health care leaders. She’s a highly sought-after speaker, both in-person and in the media, and a consultant specializing in community engagement. She has taught for The Links Incorporated, the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority’s Boule event, the Kiwanis International, Lions Clubs International, among many other highly respected organizations. At one point, The Links Incorporated went to Jamaica, and Dr. Katherine went with them along with her manikin. “Any organization that had people, that’s where I went. That was my strategy. I was always very grass roots, and that’s how things grew.”

So what can we learn from her creativity, innovation and unstoppable spirit? Turns out, a lot. Please come back next week for Part 2 of Dr. Brown’s amazing story, in her own words. In the meantime, here is how to connect with her:

#LearnCPRAmerica 
#DrKatherineYBrown

Instagram: 
@DrKatherineYBrown
@LearnCPRAMERICA 

Facebook: 
@DrKatherineBrown
@LearnCPRAmerica

Twitter: 
@KatherineYBrown
@LearnCPRAmerica

LinkedIn: 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherineybrown

Aunt Trained in CPR Comes to the Rescue of 12-month-old Niece

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By Gina Mayfield

One evening after work, as Ingrid Zuniga Izquierdo relaxed in the living room of her multigenerational home, her sister was bathing her 1-year-old daughter, Leslie, who had been fighting some chest congestion. After a vapor bath, Leslie was halfway through a diaper change when she let out a little whimper and turned purple. Ingrid’s sister scooped up Leslie and went screaming to the living room.

“My niece was purple, she was like a rag doll, she had no motion,” Ingrid says, “She was choking. She wasn’t breathing. My sister was panicking.” Ingrid, who has children of her own with respiratory issues, was ready. “I’ve taken CPR classes, so I know the drill. You go into that mode and do what you.” she says. Ingrid placed Leslie on the floor and immediately started child CPR, with compressions and breaths, while her sister called 911.

Ingrid with her younger family members

By this point, three generations of the family had gathered around. “The kids were crying as they were seeing what was going on, my mom too, everybody was just panicking. I was just in that mindset of ‘Okay, I have no time to panic. Either I’m going to do something about this, or it’s not going to end well.’” Ingrid says. “I was able to get Leslie to come out of it. As soon as she took her first breath, her color started to come back.”

Soon after, the EMTs arrived, assessed Leslie and took her to the ER where the doctor told Ingrid’s sister, if Ingrid hadn’t administered CPR, they would be dealing with a “completely different story” due to oxygen deprivation and what that does to the brain.

Leslie spent the night in the hospital and her parents got to take her home the next day. While doctors are still running tests to determine the full story, they suspect a contributing factor was phlegm from chest congestion that blocked Leslie’s airways.

“I told my sister, ‘I’m glad I was around. What would you have done? Leslie needed air, she needed help,’” Ingrid says.

“This whole experience was such an eye opener, it motivated my whole family to learn CPR. My mom doesn’t know much English, so my parents went to El Concilio, the Hispanic American Council, and they taught them to do CPR. I tell people not to allow a language barrier to stop them from learning CPR, you could save a life. I’m even teaching my 9-year-old daughter,” Ingrid says.

“People tend not to worry about things until they happen to them. But you never know when you’re going to need CPR,” Ingrid says. “I’m so thankful Leslie’s still here.”

Construction Worker Trained at Work Administers Hands-Only CPR, Saves Co-Worker’s Life

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by Gina Mayfield

One afternoon, in the late summer heat of North Georgia, four E.R. Snell construction workers were busy on a job site. “We were building a new bridge and had some piles underneath it that we were bringing up to the top of a pretty steep hill,” says Jimmy Wilson, who was driving a tractor that day.  Also on scene was Lamar Henderson and Austin Parker, a guy they called Tiny, who was operating the bulldozer. Plus another employee in his 70s, Ron.

As Ron made his way to the top of the hill, Jimmy’s back was turned to him. “I heard a racket, and Tiny started blowing the horn,” Jimmy remembers. “I got out of the tractor and ran around it to find Ron on the ground unresponsive. He wasn’t breathing. I rolled him over. His eyes were glazed over. There was just nothing there.”

Tiny called 911 and Jimmy started chest compressions. “A few minutes into it, Ron gasped for air, and went right back out with no response. After several more minutes of chest compressions he finally got his breath and started to come to,” Jimmy says.  

Paramedics arrived in about 6 to 8 minutes, just as Ron regained consciousness. “He was incoherent and didn’t know what happened or where he was. The team had to coach him into the ambulance,” Jimmy says. Off Ron went to the hospital where he stayed for several days before returning home with a pacemaker and his wife who encouraged him to retire, which he did.

“The paramedics told us if we hadn’t started CPR, Ron wouldn’t  be here with us now. The doctors said the same thing,” Jimmy says. “Ron is in his 70s, but you would never know it. He would outwork some of the 20-year-old kids we had working with us. That’s just the kind of worker he was. It was just a shock for him to go down like that. He worked really hard every day. You just never know.”

That’s true. Nobody can predict when and where CPR will be needed to save a life. After E.R. Snell’s safety manager, Jason Robinson, joined the company five years ago he soon began providing significantly more First Aid/CPR/AED training classes. As a career retired firefighter/paramedic, he understood the importance of training all employees, not just those on construction sites. He added two instructors and started training and certifying superintendents and foremen, then crew leads, and is working toward a goal of reaching 100 percent of the staff, including the administrative team. He says that’s absolutely doable without interfering with production.

Jimmy had taken one of Jason’s classes just a few months before saving Ron. These days, Jason shares their story even beyond the walls of E.R. Snell to encourage other organizations in their area to make CPR training a priority. When asked, he’ll even teach the class himself.

“If it weren’t for me having that CPR training, we would have been in big trouble that day,” Jimmy says. “We would have been in panic mode, and it wouldn’t have dawned on me to start CPR that quickly. . We might have started compressions eventually, but I wouldn’t have known that time matters. Minutes matter. Seconds matter.,” Jimmy says. “I’m just glad I had that CPR training. In my opinion, every workplace should offer some kind of first-aid training and CPR classes, because it really helped us.”

Bystander Renders Aid in Busy Restaurant

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By Gina Mayfield

Friday nights for Israel Rodriguez and his family often involve winding down the workweek at a local restaurant. On one cold winter night in late January, they decided they were in the mood for Italian and headed to one of their favorite places. Just as they started to dig into appetizers, Israel sensed that something didn’t seem quite right with the family at the table directly across from them.

“I noticed the lady starting to panic. She’s patting her husband on the back, and she’s got this really worried look on her face. She gets up, starts trying to cry for help but can barely get the words out, then she seemed really afraid,” Israel says. The couple’s two little girls just sat at the table in shock. ”I pictured my family in that situation, if that were me,” Israel says, and he immediately got up to help.

“As soon as I started to walk over there to check on the man, his head hit the table,” Israel says. So Israel rushed over and started abdominal thrusts. On about the fourth thrust, what may have been a piece of ice dislodged from the man’s throat. He looked up at Israel and asked, “What’s going on? What happened?” He had completely lost consciousness.

What happened was that in a busy Italian restaurant with a Friday night crowd, only Israel rushed in to help. No one else stepped up, not even the manager or waitstaff. No one called 911. Lucky for Lee, the survivor, Israel had just completed a CPR & First Aid refresher course as a volunteer in the children’s ministry at his church. He and his wife had been taking life-saving courses for years.

Things settled down that night after the rescue, and Israel checked on Lee’s wife and children and made sure they were all okay. Lee’s family stayed and had their dinner — and bought Israel’s meal too.

In this day and age, Israel says that in an emergency people sometimes first think of recording an event, rather than rendering aid. “But a social media post isn’t going to help anybody in a life-threatening situation,” he says. “That was one of the things that really stood out to me about that night. If I hadn’t helped Lee, I don’t know if he would have had any help.”

Looking back, Israel also thinks about fully trained bystanders who have taken CPR courses, yet still hesitate to act because they’re afraid of hurting the victim. “It’s either you do something and give that person a chance, or do nothing and let them die. Step into action and increase their odds,” he says.      

That’s exactly what Israel did on that fateful Friday. Months later, he and Lee are still in touch. Lee reached out on Father’s Day, a holiday that undoubtedly meant a little more this year, especially to Lee’s two little girls who were with him in the restaurant. “It could have gone an entirely differently way that night,” Israel says.

The AHA is committed to transforming a nation of bystanders into a Nation of Lifesavers. Join the movement that can make a difference in the life of someone’s partner, parent, friend, or family.

First responders help save teenage boy’s life after he collapses at gym

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Paramedics Boyd Hansbro and Gabriel Morales had just finished transporting a patient to the hospital on July 7, 2023, when a dispatch call came in just after 1:30 p.m. in Grand Prairie, a suburb in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

The call noted that a person had collapsed at the gym.

“Ninety-nine times out of 100, it’s someone who has overexerted themselves because they’re lifting and they get up and pass out,” Boyd said. “So it doesn’t raise any alarms for us.”

The emergency was outside Boyd’s service area. But as Boyd and Gabriel, who work for the Grand Prairie Fire Department, were on the closest ambulance, they headed to the 24 Hour Fitness where the person had collapsed.

As the ambulance was en route, Boyd received updated notes from dispatch that the person was not breathing. Boyd knew immediately the situation was serious.

Left to right: Firefighter/EMTP Gabriel Morales, LT/EMTP Chris Sieg, Jaylen Floyd, Firefighter/EMTP Boyd Hansbro, Firefighter/EMTP Brent Flath, and Firefighter/EMTP Thomas Haire

A fire truck had arrived on scene first. The truck’s crew of first responders  – Chris Sieg, Pat Schuster, Thomas Haire and Brent Flath – had started CPR on the 17-year-old, Black patient named Jaylen Floyd. The first responders also shocked him two times with a defibrillator. They also applied an airway device to open his airway and administered epinephrine. Boyd and Gabriel soon arrived at the scene. Boyd served as the lead paramedic.

“It turns into business,” Boyd said of the EMS response.  “We know what we need to do. And that is regardless of the surroundings really. We know what we need to do to take care of whatever we’re dealing with the best way that we know possible.”

As part of Boyd’s role, he gathered as much information about what happened from  Jaylen’s friends who told him that it appeared Jaylen had been resting on the curl bar. However, a gym member who was nearby looked at Jaylen and realized he wasn’t breathing.

Boyd learned the gym member had started CPR before first responders even arrived. Boyd said this lay responder was the unsung hero in the situation.

“Apparently they were doing a fantastic job,” Boyd said of the lay responder. “That person probably did more than anyone to make sure the outcome was good for Jaylen.”

The team of first responders were at the scene for about 15 minutes before Jaylen was transported by ambulance to Medical Center of Arlington. Boyd said they also had to shock Jaylen while in the ambulance.

About a minute away from the hospital, Boyd was providing bag-valve-mask ventilations to Jaylen when there was a moment that surprised him.

“He sucked that bag completely out of air,” Boyd recalled. “I was really hopeful at that point. I was like ‘Man, he is going to make it.’

Boyd said he had never had a patient completely take one big breath like Jaylen did while providing bag-valve-mask ventilation.

Jaylen was first hospitalized at Medical Center of Arlington for a couple of hours, and then was transported to Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth where he spent five days in the ICU.

Tracy Floyd, Jaylen’s mother, said doctors diagnosed Jaylen with long QT syndrome, which caused the cardiac arrest. He now has a subcutaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillator and takes betablockers. She said he is healthy and doing well.

“He is doing absolutely amazing,” she said. “We were truly blessed.”

Jaylen is a high school senior who played the alto saxophone in the band at Timberview High School. He graduates on May 24, 2024, and will attend college at Oklahoma State University.

“He really is a good kid,” Tracy said. “He has given me no problems throughout his tenure of being a teenager, and so I’m very grateful for that for sure.”

Left to right: Firefighter/EMTP Gabriel Morales, LT/EMTP Chris Sieg, Demetra Hight (sister), Tracy Floyd (mom), Jaylen Floyd, Roderick Floyd (dad), Firefighter/EMTP Boyd Hansbro, Firefighter/EMTP Brent Flath, Firefighter/EMTP Thomas Haire

Jaylen, Tracy and the rest of their family met with the team of first responders who treated him. Hugs were exchanged. Tracy said she is forever grateful to the EMS professionals who responded with urgency and compassion.

“You cannot replace a human’s life,” she said. “There are not enough thanks you, hugs, money. It’s priceless. I’m extremely grateful. I have the utmost gratitude for the care they provided and for the selflessness of the first team to go ahead and respond after finishing up a call and it wasn’t even their call to go to. So my hats off to their work they exhibited before the second team arrived and came.”

Tracy is also thankful for the lay responder – a stranger – who immediately started performing CPR on Jaylen. She said the lay responder’s actions demonstrate the importance of the public learning CPR especially as research has shown that Black children are less likely to receive lay responder CPR.

In a study published in 2022 in the American Heart Association’s flagship journal, Circulation, the findings showed that Black and Hispanic children are less likely to receive bystander CPR than white children during an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

“The message I would have would be to please learn the basics for starting chest compressions or using an AED. He is a Black kid. You’re not likely to respond to a Black child or Black person unfortunately….. he is a kid who has a full life ahead so the importance of a lay responder just to learn and just to do compressions, it can save a life. It literally saved a life. It saved my son’s life,” Tracy said.

Each year, EMS Week is celebrated in the United States. This year’s EMS Week marks the 50th anniversary that the tradition has been held. EMS Week honors the dedication and commitment of EMS professionals. It represents a time to express gratitude for the lifesaving work that EMS workers do.

Boyd said he is glad Jaylen is doing well and he’ll remember this EMS Week how he and his fellow first responders worked to save his life. Boyd also said he encourages the public to learn CPR and not to rely on learning CPR from the movies where the technique is usually not shown properly because the rescuer is not pushing down hard enough.

“Learn the basics of just chest compressions and save a life,” Boyd said.