Chuck Greczkowski and his family will be making a heartfelt and potentially lifesaving presentation at a Lowe’s in Lisbon, Conn. next week.
They’re going to donate an AED and fully stocked first aid bag, courtesy of American Ambulance
Company, in honor of the employee who saved Chuck’s life with Hands-Only CPR when Chuck hit the floor last year at Lowe’s, in cardiac arrest.
It’s a story worth celebrating not only because the 72-year-old survived, but also because it shows the importance of starting Hands-Only CPR, even if the bystander may feel hesitant. And, it is an example of the profound effect Hands-Only CPR has not only on one person’s life but also on the entire community.
“It changed my life, and it changed my view on CPR,” said Mark Greczkowski, Chuck’s son and a paramedic. “I’ve done CPR on people dozens of times over the years. But now I know the difference it can make for someone to just get their hands on a person and to start those compressions. No one should hesitate.”
“I know now just how much it can change a life, how it changed my dad’s life,” Mark said, his voice trailing off. “How it saved my dad’s life.”
It all happened because a coworker, Floyd Flint, remembered what he’d seen on a publicly-available video about Hands-Only CPR. “If Floyd wasn’t there, the doctors said Dad wouldn’t be there,” Mark said.
Chuck, who works in the hardware department at Lowe’s in Lisbon, had just clocked out for lunch when he fell to the floor. Coworker Flint acted fast, flipping Chuck over.
“I’m a wiry little guy,” Chuck said, “So he could do that.” Then, Flint started Hands-Only CPR, in which a person delivers hard, fast compressions in the center of a person’s chest.
Mark and his mom, Ellie, left their work places to go the hospital. “I kinda felt like it wasn’t real,” said Ellie. “It was the longest thirty minutes of my life.”
Flint had been terrified he had harmed or even killed Chuck, Mark said. “When I finally talked to him, he was ecstatic. He cried. He couldn’t believe everything had turned out all right.”
Doctors think Chuck went into cardiac arrhythmia, caused by an imbalance in sodium levels. Chuck has no lasting medical effects, but he has everlasting gratitude.
The family has held Hands-Only CPR training classes at their home as well as places in the community. They will train people on May 15 at Lowe’s. And Chuck said he will keep training people as long as he has breath and energy to do so.
“The bad was well worth it,” said Chuck. “We all learned about CPR.”
If you are interested in holding a Hands-Only CPR training, please reach out to one of AHA’s Community CPR managers in your area. Then record it on our Community CPR tracker.
Thanks to the quick reaction of my father’s co-worker, Floyd Flint, he has fully recovered and living life to the fullest. Floyd was scared & nervous but recognized that my father was unresponsive and not breathing, so Floyd reacted quickly starting hands-only chest compressions. Floyd did high-quality chest compressions for two (2) minutes till my father took his first breath of life.
My family and I are forever grateful to Floyd and all the staff of Lowe’s in Lisbon Connecticut, the Lisbon Fire Department, and all the medical professionals that had a role in my father treatment.
Learn CPR and hope you never need to use it, but you will be prepared if some should require it. It is better to do something than nothing – Hands-only CPR saved my fathers and my best friends life. No words could ever express my families gratitude for everyone actions- Thank you to the AHA for providing the science & training!
On Sept 25, 2017, I received a call at work from Mark … my first thought was he was calling to say hi …instead he said “It’s dad, they are doing CPR and it doesn’t look good”. We both left our jobs, meeting at the hospital awaiting the arrival of the ambulance not knowing what to expect. Thanks to the quick reaction of Floyd Flint, Chuck has made a full recovery and was back working at Lowes in a few short weeks. Floyd has told us many times how scared he was that day, but thankfully his instinct to start Hands-Only CPR (having remembered seeing a video) took over … saving my husband’s life. Many factors came in to play that day showing us that God has a plan – Becky Newman, part of the Lisbon Volunteer Fire Dept. with EMS training was working at Lowes and came over to assist Floyd; Lisbon’ crew responded to the scene in only 5 minutes; other Lowes employee’s reacted immediately making a 911 call and issuing a store wide alert … “Thank you” seemed so inadequate.
Mark wanted to do more to show our appreciation to everyone setting into motion a friends and family CPR training at our home and providing Lowes with an AED, First Aid Bag and training for anyone interested. Thank you from our entire family and to the American Heart Association for wanting to make our story part of theirs!