Art Morris said his afternoon trip to Highway 7 Tim Hortons Sunday, Feb. 21 was a daily ritual. He arrived about 2 p.m., got his coffee and sat down to chat with a group of regulars.
After a while, one friend wondered why Art was leaning on him. “They told me that they thought I was leaning as if I was going to pick something off the floor, and I don’t remember another thing,” he said.
Two Tim Hortons staff members had started CPR right away.
At the couple’s home just south of Perth, Alma was getting ready for a shift as a supervisor at Lanark Lodge. “The phone rang about quarter after two and I thought maybe it was just friends calling for a visit, and I was rushing to get ready,” she recalled.
Fortunately, Alma decided to answer, and was told Art had fainted and was being taken to the Perth site of the Perth and Smiths Falls District Hospital.
Arriving at the hospital, Alma noticed there was a Perth Police vehicle there but didn’t realize “it was me they were waiting for.”
“When the ambulance staff arrived they made the comment that without the employees quick action, their efforts might not have been as successful,” said Alma. “We are very thankful.”
Alma said her knowledge of Art’s chances of survival, based on her professional experience, made the whole experience more terrifying if anything. “I was just like jelly,” she said. Doctors in both Perth and Kingston said Art’s survival, and relatively rapid recovery, were “a miracle.”
Last Monday Alma, along with her daughter, son, daughter-in-law and sister, went to the restaurant to thank the staff for helping to save Art.
“There were tears in our eyes, of course,” she said. “They weren’t looking for pay, they weren’t looking for words of praise or anything. The two staff members said thanks wasn’t necessary,” said Alma, “but my daughter piped up and said, “Yes, it is.”"
“If you can save one person out of a thousand, isn’t it worth it?” said Alma.
