Dr. Ross Bailey of Mantorville, a veterinarian with the Carriage House Animal Hospital in Kasson, had been on one of his daily jogs when the rhythm of his heart was interrupted.
He went into cardiac arrest, and Kim Thomas of Mantorville saw him collapse on the road.
As a surgical technologist at Olmsted Medical Center in Rochester, Thomas is required to be certified in CPR. She pulled over, called 911 and performed CPR until Dodge County sheriff’s deputy Scott Prins arrived.
“It felt like forever, those eight minutes between the call to 911 and hearing the sirens,” Thomas recalled Tuesday after receiving an award for her life-saving efforts.
“You don’t stop and make choices. You just do what you’ve been trained to do,” Thomas said. “I just clicked into CPR mode.”
Thomas’ efforts made it possible for Prins to treat Bailey at the scene with the automated external defibrillator in his squad car. It was the first time Prins had used the machine in the field.
After receiving the defibrillator shocks, Bailey regained a pulse and was taken to Saint Marys Hospital by Dodge Center ambulance.
“The whole series of events that weekend brought us all to the same place at the same time,” Thomas said. “I know we were all there for a good reason.”
