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The airport said that the woman appeared to faint, while standing in the security screening line.

A nurse practitioner and an EMT who were off duty, were on hand and jumped over to help.

A TSA worker grabbed the AED from the first floor, and the team was able to revive the woman.

Airport officials said that when Gold Cross responded, they said it looked like the woman’s pacemaker failed.

The 148th Fighter Wing fire department also responded. They said on Monday it appeared the woman would be OK.

The airport said she was from the Detroit area.

The airport had the AED installed in 2005.

“We have training each year. We’re glad it saved a life,” said Blaine Peterson, facilities manager.

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But as it happened, Herberger, a city firefighter and former longtime paramedic, was at the right place at the right time. It was Oct. 24 and he and his family were returning home from a vacation in Florida. They were at Orlando International Airport about to get something to eat.

Dan Herberger the Saviour

“I saw a lady collapse and heard there was some seizure activity,” he said Thursday. “It was a woman at a jewelry kiosk. I heard someone ask, ‘is she breathing?’ I went over there and took her pulse. She didn’t have one.”

Herberger began CPR on the woman as another traveler came over and identified herself as a nurse. Herberger had asked for an automated external defibrillator, which he figured would be somewhere in the airport.

The nurse unpacked the device and she and Herberger put the patches on the unconscious woman’s chest. He then waited for the AED to charge before pressing the button to shock her. There was a tense moment when the machine’s voice kept urging him to press the button, he said.

He and the nurse knew enough to stay clear so as not to get any of the residual jolt, he said. After the shock, he checked again. The woman had “a really strong, regular pulse.”

Meanwhile his wife was in line buying lunch at one food counter while his father was over at another one. His group also included his mom and three children.

“My wife is a nurse practitioner and when she saw me, she motioned ‘do you need me over there?’” he said. “I said no, just get my food.”

Despite the seriousness of the moment, he couldn’t help but think about getting his meal and catching the flight. He didn’t want to belittle the action, he said, but it really was no big deal. Not one to publicize his own good deeds, Herberger dropped the news to a co-worker, who in turn shared it with Chief Jim Maxwell.

“Dan’s efforts led to the woman leaving the terminal with a pulse,” Maxwell said.

Herberger, 38, joined the department in May 2002. During this incident, he was most impressed by how onlookers knew what a defibrillator was and that someone knew where to get it. He also felt the swift reaction of his training.

“You have the instinct to go into survival mode as a firefighter,” he said. “My years of experience definitely helps. Maybe 15 years ago as a bystander with no equipment, I may have been more unsure.”

His wife Cindy said it was “nice for me to see him in that other role,” besides husband and father. Working at a hospital in Buffalo, she has never been called to perform a medical service in public. She understood that it was something her husband would naturally do.

“It doesn’t surprise me that Dan got involved, because that’s the kind of person that he is,” she said. “I was proud of him.”

The family made its flight, but not without a note of irony, she said. There was an announcement that a life-saver was on board. Champagne was poured and fellow travelers applauded.

Then the toast was given to the nurse who had offered some minor assistance.

Phil Roe the Saviour

Roe, who was a practicing OB/GYN before he was elected to Congress, was walking through the airport with fellow Congressman Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) when someone cried out about a man who had collapsed.

Roe immediately rushed over and began performing CPR in an attempt to save the man’s life. By the time Roe reached him, the man did not have a heartbeat.

The congressman “brought the man back to life — he was dead. The AED [automatic external defibrillator] machine showed that he was flat-lining,” Roe’s press secretary, Amanda Little, told POLITICO.

CPR was not successful in resuscitating the man, so when emergency medical technicians arrived shortly after, Roe assisted them with the emergency defibrillator, which shocked the man back to life, added Little.

The man who collapsed is currently in stable condition, according to Roe’s office. “We checked in this morning, and last we heard this morning, the man was going to be OK,” said Little.

Roe’s quick actions very likely saved the man’s life, said Mulvaney, who was present at the scene the whole time. “This guy is alive because of Phil Roe and a couple other very important people at the airport,” Mulvaney told the DC.

For his part, Roe was humble and commended local emergency officials. “I really want to praise the police officers there and the EMTs,” he told the DC. “They did a great job. I’m just glad I’m around and able to help.”

Roe said that this morning’s incident was his first time using a portable defibrillator.

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Quickly determining that the woman was in cardiac arrest, John Gammon alerted Jordan, an aspiring firefighter who finished an emergency medical technician course only days earlier.

John & Jordan Gammon the Saviours

“I was impressed watching him, because he engaged and just went right to it,” John Gammon said. “Sometimes, we even get guys who are trained firemen who hesitate for a second, but he jumped right in.”

As John raced through the airport searching for an automatic external defibrillator, Jordan put his newly learned lifesaving techniques to work, taking over CPR compressions on the woman.

“Three days before that, I had been tested on it,” Jordan Gammon said. “It was a little stressful, but my training took over.”

“He took the real test,” added Jim Larson, a Santa Ana firefighter and paramedic who had given Jordan advice during his EMT course.

A doctor also awaiting a flight arrived to help, with an airport employee locating a defibrillator. The device analyzed the woman’s heart rhythm and delivered a single shock, at which point the rescuers found a pulse.

Clark County firefighters arrived soon after, taking the woman to a hospital.

She had to undergo open-heart surgery but appears to be doing well, John Gammon said. Authorities believe the 33-year-old woman had a pre-existing condition that was exacerbated when she exerted herself while running to catch a flight.

Fire officials say the key to saving the woman’s life was the speed of the emergency response, with CPR started within 30 seconds, the first shock within five minutes, and paramedics arriving within 10 minutes.

“For every minute that someone is in cardiac arrest, they lose approximately seven to 10 percent chance of surviving, depending on their age and pre-existing conditions,” Larson said.

For Jordan, the rescue was a reminder of why he wanted to become a firefighter, following in the footsteps of his father and both of his grandfathers. While studying at Northwestern, Jordan also worked for a volunteer fire department, responding on a variety of medical aids and fire calls.

“I enjoy helping people, and it’s always interested me,” Jordan Gammon said. “Being able to help this lady was a blessing.”

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CPR (Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation) had been commenced by a fellow passenger and a defibrillator had been brought to the scene. By this time the casualty was in cardiac arrest, which means that his heart had stopped beating, so Peter deployed the defibrillator whilst assisting with CPR.

Peter Van Der Wal the Saviour

Two shocks were given, which along with sustained CPR were successful in the casualty’s heart regaining a regular rhythm and subsequently regaining consciousness.

An ambulance crew and a doctor were very soon on the scene and all agreed that had it not been for Peter’s skill and management of the incident, together with his prompt and decisive action the casualty is unlikely to have survived.

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Shortly after 2 p.m., a 79 year-old man from North Carolina, who was traveling with his wife, collapsed near gate C3 in Terminal 4 as they waited for a connecting flight.

Phoenix Airport police officers responded to the call.

The man had no pulse and was not breathing.

An airline employee retrieved the AED and then Officer Joe Liska, who is trained in the use of AEDs, administered one shock to the man. Officer Tom Beck arrived on the scene and began giving chest compressions.

When firefighters arrived, the man was breathing and had a heartbeat. He was taken to the hospital and is currently recovering.

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He went into cardiac arrest inside terminal 4 Wednesday night and the doctors came to the rescue, despite some challenges.

“Where are the AEDs? Why isn’t it more available to the public? Why can’t we find it, why can’t we see it?” said Dr. Bruce Decter, a cardiologist.

They are life-saving questions Dr. Bruce Decter asks as to the whereabouts of the automatic external defibrillators or AEDs.

One of them was critically needed at JFK’s terminal 4 after a passenger suddenly collapsed and started to turn blue.

“I felt the pulse. I listened for breathing. I found none. I started the CPR,” Dr. Decter said.

With Dr. Scott Danoff, a dentist at his side, Dr. Decter also asks someone to call 911 and for the AED.

“I really repeated, ‘Where’s the AED?’” Dr. Decter said.

“I was thinking about it the whole time, all during the chest compressions, you’re looking around to see who is coming with an AED and there was nobody coming in,” said Dr. Scott Danoff, a dentist.

A Port Authority Police officer, who also responded, ran to get a portable device according to the doctors.

It’s unknown where he retrieved the AED.

“But by that time, the patient was revived,” Dr. Decter said.

“It was nowhere to be found, and the chances are it is hidden behind some piece of equipment or some barrier or some x-ray machine they use for security purposes,” Dr. Danoff said.

The private company that manages terminal 4 did not respond to Eyewitness News’ calls for comment or request to see the placement of the AEDs.

The doctors say they should be more visible.

“Maybe put it on a column somewhere, on a wall, but maybe put a one food wide red stripe going up 10 feet,” Dr. Danoff said.

“It was the most frustrating thing not to have that device, and I find we were very lucky that he survived,” Dr. Decter said.

Port Authority Officials say that there are defibrillators in terminal 4 and that many of them were placed there with an expansion of the program in 2006.

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Boudrou, an emergency medical service aid for Clallam County Fire District 3, saved a man’s life on Nov. 17 at SEA-TAC airport using CPR tactics she has taught in Utah, Sequim and at Evergreen Hospital for a combination of 27 years.

“It was so exhilarating,” Boudrou said.

“After all these years, it was the first time to do it on my own and not on the job.”

Around 2:30 p.m., while waiting for her luggage after a trip to Phoenix, Ariz., Boudrou stood in the baggage claim with her sister.

Suddenly, an older man standing next to Boudrou collapsed.

He began gasping for air, which was a sign of agonal respiration — slow, involuntary breaths usually taken close to death.

“People didn’t recognize he wasn’t breathing,” Boudrou said.

“One person even shouted that he was breathing.”

She recognized the symptoms and yelled for someone to call 9-1-1 and to get an automated external defibrillator, an AED.

Boudrou believes no one would have started CPR if she hadn’t identified the problem.

She checked for a heart rate and to see if he was breathing before hooking the AED to him. The machine identified that the man had gone into ventricular fibrillation, or VF, a condition hard to detect when checking for a pulse. The AED shocked his heart and resuscitated him.

Then Boudrou began 100 manual compressions a minute.

“When I was doing (CPR), people were crying and praying,” Boudrou said.

“It was real exciting. I’m so used to being on duty. It was so classic.”

Boudrou maintained the repetitions for a few minutes before the man revived.

When medics arrived five minutes later, he was alert but vomiting, which Boudrou said is characteristic of people going into ventricular fibrillation.

She later discovered the man was 76, had a pacemaker and was diabetic.

Boudrou remains humble about the experience.

“Anybody could have done that with the right training,” she said.

“That machine and quick CPR saved his life. That’s why there are AEDs everywhere.”

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Deputies Dave Kofalk and Joe Baxter were escorting a prisoner through the airport when they were told about the stricken man, who was not breathing and had no pulse.

The deputies quickly grabbed a nearby Automated External Defibrillator device, also known as an AED, and used it to deliver a shock of electricity to revive the man’s heart beat.

Moments later, the man’s pulse and breathing started up again, and firefighter/paramedics arrived to continue treatment and take him to Broward General Medical Center.

The man underwent surgery Friday night, but his condition was not available.

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The man had just arrived at Miami International Airport from Paris ,and was standing in the passport line.

When Dr. Myerburg got to him, he didn’t have a pulse. He immediately started CPR and asked a guard for a defibrillator to shock the man’s heart back into rhythm.

There are 30 in terminals across MIA, but, as he found out that day, there were none inside the large and isolated federal security area where international arrivals are first processed.

By the time someone was able to bring him a defibrillator, a fire rescue crew had arrived and the passenger was taken to UM Hospital.

Within days after the incident, a defibrillator was installed in the federally secured area.

And the patient made a complete recovery, even though the odds were stacked against him.