Lindsey Roskos and Ron Matusiak were the first to reach the man. Both could tell immediately that the situation was serious as the unresponsive victim’s breathing grew labored and his pulse drained away.
Ron Matusiak the Saviour
“There was no doubt something was really wrong,” Matusiak said. “You could just feel the pulse go away.”
Roskos, who was CPR-certified as an employee of Black Hills Workshop, started chest compressions while YMCA staffers called 911 and delivered the AED to Matusiak.
As the AED coordinator for the Federal Aviation Administration office in Rapid City, Matusiak proved to be the right person in the right place at the right time.
“I didn’t think. I didn’t have to think. It went exactly as it’s supposed to,” he said. Matusiak credits the saved life to the “excellent training” that the Red Cross provides, to the YMCA for having an AED on the premises, and to God.
“I just had to push a button,” he said.
By the time Roskos, 25, had performed two cycles of CPR – 30 chest compressions followed by two rescue breaths – the defibrillator was ready for use and it was telling Matusiak (it speaks instructions aloud) that no heartbeat was detected and a shock was advised.
After yelling “stand clear” numerous times, Matusiak pushed the button.
“His body kind of arched up and … the minute I laid my hand on his throat, you could feel a pulse.”
Matusiak remembers thinking two things:
“This is a miracle.”
And … “Hey, these things work.”
Within minutes, emergency medical personnel arrived on the scene. Soon, the man was speaking and trying to sit up.
As the patient was being loaded into the ambulance, Matusiak asked paramedics if they needed any information from him.
“He said, ‘No, but this guy has something for you.’ The man reached up to grasp my hand. I started crying. I’m just so happy he’s alive. I just thank God for that,” he said.
The unidentified man remained hospitalized Thursday.
Two days later, Matusiak’s emotions were still close to the surface.
“It was intense. The most intense thing I’ve ever experienced – and I’ve had a divorce and a war,” he said. “Here’s this dead guy that, all of a sudden, is OK.”
