When Dean Lowder, 48, was getting ready to start his shift as a robot operator at ConAgra Foods’ local plant, he never realized his life was going to change.
Conagra Team the Saviours
Talking to friends, getting ready to start a new shift and going through his routine was when the unexpected happened that Monday in late January.
“He just passed out, so the nurses came, did CPR and used a defibrillator,” said Lowder’s mother, Floy Underwood.
“The third shock with the defibrillator brought him back to life. He was taken to Saint Mary’s (Regional Medical Center), then to Little Rock.I was scared to death because you don’t ever know what has happened. It was just hard to think.
“I was driving and one of my sons called and said ‘Dean is in the hospital.’ As I was on the way to the hospital, someone from ConAgra called me and said that I needed to get there because something is wrong with Dean.
Both Underwood and Todd Lowder agreed Lowder wouldn’t have survived if it wasn’t for ConAgra’s emergency response team.
“If they didn’t do what they did, it wouldn’t matter what other doctors could do,” Lowder said. “They had to have something to work with first. I have more respect for it now. I have more respect for them. You don’t think twice about it, a fire hydrant or how close it is to your house until your house catches on fire. I have walked by (defibrillators) every day at work and never thought twice about it. Now it’s different.”
Underwood credits ConAgra for saving her son’s life because otherwise there wouldn’t have been a chance of him making it to the hospital in time.
“The nurses and having the defibrillators in the break room is why he’s alive. It was ConAgra having the right equipment and the right people too,” Underwood said. “It makes you realize how important life really is, and how when you see people, if you love them, tell them you love them.
“ConAgra should get the recognition. Not everyone cares that much about their employees.”
“My biggest thanks is to the people at ConAgra, the nurses, Dean’s coworkers and management,” Todd Lowder said. “They have one hectic job. I wish I could do more (than offer thanks). People do care about each other in big corporations.”
