“I was just looking at him and it seemed like he just took his last breath and it was like, uhhhh.”

Deanna “Dee” Norflee, never thought she would have to use an Automatic External Defibrillator or an A-E-D. She got training in March on the machine and in November she had to use it.

Bart Skinner the Survivor with Deanna Norflee the Saviour

“I came into the gym and I saw him kneeling over right here in this exact spot,” she says.

Bart Skinner, 55, was just playing basketball on the same hard wood floors LeBron James did when he lived in Akron.

“My buddy’s girlfriend looked at me and said, ‘Bart you don’t look too good,’ and she said I told her I don’t feel good and that’s about all I remember.”

A call to 9-1-1 and the decision to grab the A-E-D saved Skinner’s life.

“When it said press the button we are ready to go,” said Norflee.

Bart was out for three minutes before being treated by the AED.

E-M-S arrived in minutes and took over the situation.

Bart is alive, and well and thankful for AED’s

“I think there a blessing and I’m glad for them and I’m glad I have training on them,” says Skinner.

View First Aid Corps World Map of AED Locations in a larger map

Trey Bren and Kelsey Remund, both part-time community center recreation leaders, were working at Morningside Community Center on Dec. 4 when they spotted Vance Magee, a 21-year-old Sioux Falls resident, who had fallen to the floor at mid-court while playing basketball.

Kelsey Remund & Trey Bren the Saviours

Magee was experiencing a cardiac arrest.

After he got back on his feet and was able to be taken off the court, he started seizing.

The pair acted quickly, calling 911 and using the public access defibrillator and CPR to save the unresponsive Magee’s life.

All Parks and Recreation employees receive CPR training, officials said Thursday at the ceremony honoring the pair, and that training was a large factor in Bren and Remund’s quick response, they said.

“We’ve always done the training with the CPR and everything, and never once did I think I’d actually have to use it,” Remund said. “The training helped a lot.

Bren and Remund were given plaques Thursday in recognition of their fast action, clear thinking and ability to take action.

Vance remembers little of that day, only waking up in the hospital, where he spent six days. Now, he said he feels good and is excited to get back to work.

“I’m just glad to be here right now, it’s kind of hard to realize what I’ve been through,” Magee said. “I just want to say thank you to everybody, thank you.”

Bren and Remund say they were glad they could do their job and help save a life.

“Vance, I don’t want you or your family to think that you owe us anything; we were simply doing our job,” Bren said.

Sioux Falls Mayor Mike Huether said he was proud of the pair.

“Four words: Vance is with us,” said Huether said. “I’m just so proud. I get to do so many great things as mayor, and this is just another one. You two young people , look at the impact you’ve already made.Your moms are proud of you, your dads are proud of you, I’m proud of you, the city is proud of you. Nice job.”

View First Aid Corps World Map of AED Locations in a larger map

Haynes, 15, of Natchitoches nearly died on Dec. 12 during Natchitoches Central’s freshman boys basketball game at Pineville High School. On Tuesday, a day after having a defibrillator surgically placed in his chest in New Orleans, Haynes and his mother, Clara, went home for the first time since the terrifying incident.

Calvin Haynes the Survivor

“I wasn’t at the game, but I was blessed with angels that worked with my son that got him back to life,” said Mrs. Haynes. “His heart had stopped beating for eight minutes, and he was unconscious for 30-40 minutes. Some people say he is lucky to be alive. He wasn’t lucky, he was blessed.”

Haynes, a small forward, wasn’t a starter in the contest, but he remembers being sent into the game in the second quarter.

“I don’t remember going down,” he said. “I remember scoring a basket and going back (down court) to play defense. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in the hospital.”

Micah Coleman, in his sixth year as the varsity boys’ basketball coach at Natchitoches Central, was watching from the sideline while freshman coach Kolton Sepulvado’s Chiefs played the Rebel freshmen. As Coleman was visiting with Pineville varsity boys’ basketball coach Corey Simon, Haynes made a nice move to the goal for a layup off the glass.

“I was talking with Corey about Calvin after he caught Corey’s eye with that score,” Coleman said, “and pointing at him as he was running down floor and then collapsed. You see kids fall all the time in basketball, but you could tell there was something different about the way he fell. To say it scared me would be an understatement. I was terrified.”

“It was a dead sound,” said Gage Trahan, a certified athletic trainer and Pineville teacher who was on duty at the game and administered to Haynes on the court. “Initially, it looked as though he was having a seizure. He was very rigid and shaking.”

Donna Lemoine, a nurse from Rapides Regional Medical Center who happened to be at the game because her daughter was scheduled to play in a freshman girls basketball game after the boys contest, soon joined Trahan on the court to help.

Despite the appearances, Haynes wasn’t having a seizure, Lemoine said, noting he wasn’t breathing and didn’t have a pulse.

“We did several minutes of CPR,” said Lemoine, a former paramedic and emergency room nurse who taught CPR for 20 years and now is director of the trauma department at Rapides Regional. “At one point, it seemed he started breathing again, but it was not a good pulse.”

Trahan got Simon to call an ambulance and the Pineville Fire Department, and he hustled to get an automated external defibrillator (AED) that was by the school cafeteria near the gym.

“That’s what the patient needed,” said Lemoine, who had also been doing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on Haynes. “Gage turned it on and started analyzing the heart rhythm, and it advised he needed to be shocked. We shocked the patient and started doing CPR again.”

By the time the ambulance and Pineville firefighters arrived, Haynes was stable enough to be transported to the emergency room.

“When I got to the hospital, Calvin was conscious and recognized my voice,” said Mrs. Haynes, who arrived at the ER about 15 minutes after her son. “He was in and out (of consciousness).”

Haynes eventually was taken to the intensive care unit.

“I felt drowsy and didn’t know what was going on,” he said. “The only thing that kept me calm was hearing my mom and my coach telling me everything was OK.”

“I’ve prayed pretty hard in my lifetime, but never with quite the same energy than when I was on the way to the hospital,” said the 34-year-old Coleman. “Once I heard his voice, that was the best definition of relief I’ve ever experienced. His words were kind of slow and slurred, but I didn’t care as long as he was talking.

“To see someone go from being a happy-go-lucky 15-year-old to someone hanging on for life, that’s how fragile life can be,” Coleman went on. “We prayed several times and told him we were praying for him and that, no matter what, it was going to be OK. We told him we weren’t going anywhere and he was not alone.”

“Thanks to Gage and Donna Lemoine,” said Pineville Principal Karl Carpenter, “we have a 15-year-old male who will celebrate Christmas with his family as opposed to being in a tragic situation.”

Haynes was sent last week from Rapides to Children’s Hospital in New Orleans for tests.

“They did several tests, but didn’t find anything wrong,” said Mrs. Haynes, whose husband, Calvin Sr., a former Alcorn State offensive lineman and Mississippi junior high basketball coach, died in 1997 at age 45 of a heart attack.

“They put a defibrillator in Monday to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Mrs. Haynes continued, “and since everything went well with that, we can go home.”

Mrs. Haynes said because of her husband’s death, she sent her son to a doctor for a physical last August, noting he was “cleared to play football and all sports.”

Coleman said he didn’t leave Haynes’ side the night he suffered from cardiac arrhythmia until both his mother and the doctor told him he would be OK, after which he returned home to Natchitoches and “promptly hugged my kids.”

“The next morning,” Coleman said, “he called me and said, ‘Coach, I wanted to check on you, are you OK?’ That’s the kind of kid he is. With all that he’d been through, he was calling to check on me. I kind of laughed and said, ‘Yeah, Calvin, I’m OK as long as you’re OK.’”

“I just feel blessed,” said Haynes. “I’m thankful there were people at the game who knew CPR and could help me. I’m happy that their school had (an AED) that shocked my heart. If they hadn’t, no telling what would’ve happened.”

And he’s had plenty of time to think about that.

“I’ve thought about how I am lucky to live and have a second chance,” he said. “Instead of taking life for granted, I will appreciate each day from now on.”

View First Aid Corps World Map of AED Locations in a larger map

“I didn’t even have chest pains or shortness of breath,” Teale said. “I don’t remember much.”

Brad Teale (left) the Survivor

Teale didn’t die that night thanks to the efforts of 12 men, who pitched in to save his life. The Urbandale City Council honored those men with lifesaver certificates and pins that say, “I made CPR Count,” during a meeting on Tuesday night.

Teale went into sudden cardiac arrest, which is not the same thing as a heart attack, although a heart attack can cause it. His teammates didn’t care what had happened to him, they just wanted to help their teammate.

“The debate was whether it was a seizure or a heart attack,” said one of Teale’s lifesavers, Charles Greth of Clive. “I didn’t care what it was, I was determined to wake him up.”

Greth was one of a dozen men playing basketball that night that had a role in reviving Teale. A few started CPR, one called 911, some tried to locate his family and another located the defibrillator at the school and used it on Teale.

Greth’s children attend Walnut Hills Elementary, which is why he knew there was an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) somewhere in the building.

“I remember seeing it somewhere in the building, I just had to run to the place I thought it was and grab it,” Greth said.

Sudden cardiac arrest means “the heart stops,” said Fire Chief Jerry Holt. “There’s a disturbance in the electrical activity and the heart’s no longer rhythmically beating.”

The crew of men said the defibrillator had “dummy-proof” instructions on it. They set it up and waited for the machine to check his heart rate. After the machine confirmed he didn’t have a heart rate, it indicated they should stand back and wait for the shock. Teale was resuscitated after a few shocks and ready for the emergency crew when the arrived 10 minutes later.

“These guys deserve all the credit for basically bringing my back to life,” Teale said in front of the council and guests. “The AED said I had no heartbeat, so they literally brought me back to life. A lot of people nowadays are afraid to jump in and do anything but they got right to it.”

Teale had one basketball buddy trained in CPR, Stewart Card of Des Moines who is a physical education teacher. Overall, he had a group of concerned friends determined to save his life.

“I wouldn’t have anyone to guard,” said Card of why he performed CPR to save his friend’s life.

The group has been playing basketball together for nearly 20 years in a casual game. Troy Bothwell of West Des Moines rents the gym each year to play with his usual group of friends.

“When we have these cases we like to spotlight them,” said Holt. “Especially since it’s few and far between that outcome in these kinds of cases are so good.”

He praised the men for taking action instead of merely calling 911, which might have been too late for Teale.

View First Aid Corps World Map of AED Locations in a larger map

Suddenly, while his Grade 9 students practiced CPR on “dummies” in the gym next door, King joined McConnell in a life-or-death first-aid drill. In the precious minutes that followed, they used a real defibrillator and CPR to restore the teen’s pulse before emergency crews arrived.

Today the 17-year-old is recovering, although he does not want his name made public.

“The timing was ironic, because I had just been telling my students how important it is to know CPR, especially with the holidays coming up when they visit with elderly relatives,” King said.

McConnell knows first aid from her days as a lifeguard, and began delivering CPR and mouth-to-mouth as shocked students watched. She had been teaching at the Etobicoke school less than two weeks, yet ironically, one of the first classes she had taught was in CPR.

“It’s amazing because the defibrillator tells you exactly what to do, including what rhythm to use when you compress the chest and when to give air,” McConnell said.

Toronto’s Emergency Medical Services has nominated both teachers as well as hall monitor Linda Armstrong and vice-principal Tim Brethour for EMS Citizens’ awards for quick thinking in fetching the defibrillator, calling 911 and delaying the bell between classes so emergency crews could wheel out the stretcher without having to battle crowds.

“In cardiac arrest, seconds count,” noted EMS acting superintendent Shawn Murphy in a letter of praise to school officials. “Had it not been for the rapid and skilled actions of the staff, the outcome would not have been as positive.”

View First Aid Corps World Map of AED Locations in a larger map

Moments later, Alls told his friends to call 911.

“Then I laid back and I looked at the ceiling and I was out,” Alls said.

He was in cardiac arrest.

Rob McCann, one of his friends, started chest compressions, something he had not done in years.

“I remember yelling to the guys, ‘Does anybody know how to do this better?’” McCann said.

Alls was quickly fading.

“I actually looked at his face. It was bluish-gray,” said John Santos. “I thought, we may not be able to get him back.”

Then Santos, an employee at South Shore School, remembered that the school recently installed a defibrillator down the hall.

“That’s when it hit me, we’ve got one of those things that’ll fix him,” Santos said. “So I ran and got it.”

The device started talking to the men, giving them instructions before shocking Alls and getting his heart started.

“His color came back right away,” Hilliard said.

Alls remembers hearing the defibrillator’s voice as he woke up.

“I was like, ‘What was that sound?’” he said. “And while I was conscious, it zapped me another time.”

Paramedics arrived moments later and rushed Alls to the hospital. He underwent angioplasty and is expected to make a full recovery.

Seattle Public Schools installed defibrillators in every school, administrative building and at all 15 outside sports fields at the beginning of the school year. The district collaborated with the Heart of Seattle Schools, a non-profit organization that includes the Seattle Seahawks, Sounders, hospitals and Nick of Time Foundation.

“It saved my life,” Alls said. “I’m here to tell you that was saved by that and I just cannot be more grateful for that.”

According to a police report, the man was standing on the sideline drinking a bottle of water when he suddenly collapsed.

Two friends who also participated in the adult basketball league immediately began performing CPR on the man, Newton police spokesman Bruce Apotheker said. One, Celtics strength and conditioning coach Bryan Doo, grabbed the automated external defibrillator (AED), a simple-to-use machine that is designed for bystanders and bridges the critical moments between the beginning of cardiac arrhythmia and the arrival of paramedics.

Doo connected the AED, which detected an arrhythmia and applied one shock to the man. By the time police arrived just before 10 p.m. last Wednesday night, the man had a pulse.

A spokesman for Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where the man was transported, said he was in stable condition. The man, reached in his room, did not wish to release his name but was responsive.

Credit is now being given not just to the man’s friends who applied CPR, but also to a nearby doctor whose successful lobbying for the AED’s installation proved life-saving.

Dr. Matthew Shuster, a geriatrician with Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, lives just across a field from the Hyde Community Center. He said he has frequented the various basketball leagues that rent the court on weeknights for years.

After friend Stu Williams passed away in 2001 while playing basketball in a Newton league, Shuster pressed for various athletic venues in town to install AED machines.

“It took three or four years,” Shuster said, “but we decided after that we had to have the machine, to honor his memory and use it if necessary.”

A machine was donated to the Hyde (as it’s called by regulars) in 2005, and Shuster assumed the responsibility of maintaining the machine, periodically updating its software, checking the pads, changing the batteries and running diagnostic tests.

That diligent maintenance paid off in a big way last week.

“We feel really great that we were able to help save somebody’s life,” Shuster said, also crediting Doo, who was trained on the use of AEDs.

Shuster said that while the machines are not magic bullets, they are a vital tool in managing heart attacks, where every passing second means an increased risk of permanent brain damage or death.

View First Aid Corps World Map of AED Locations in a larger map

An automated external defibrillator, or AED, sat ready in a cabinet less than 50 feet away.

Joey Spann the Survivor

When Spann collapsed during a game at David Lipscomb High School in February, nurses who had been in the bleachers rushed to the court to perform high-quality CPR.

With one shock from the AED, Spann’s heart started beating again and he woke up.

He underwent quadruple bypass surgery the next morning.

The school said Spann is doing well and hopes to return to campus later this month.

View First Aid Corps World Map of AED Locations in a larger map

Nurse Cassie Robinson and friend Seona Whitfield were playing on another court and rushed over when they noticed Mr Regel was in trouble.

Rolf Regel the Saviour

Ms Robinson performed CPR until MISC staff member Liz Shurey, with Joyce Roberts, came over and used the centre’s defibrillator for the first time.

“It was eye-opening to see firsthand how important they are to have at a community venue and just how easy they are to use,” Ms Robinson said.

Paramedic Peter Watts, one of the first paramedics at the scene, said that while Mr Regal was unconscious when he arrived he was in a better condition than he would have been had the defibrillator not been used.

“Even though we have quite powerful anaesthetic and cardiac drugs, without the defibrillation, good CPR and the continuation of blood circulation in his body the damage could have increased to where his heart muscle actually died,” Mr Watts said.

Mr Regel praised the work of the people who came to his aid and the defibrillator. “According to the cardiologist my heart hasn’t suffered much damage.”

While he has given up playing basketball twice a week, Mr Regel is happy to encourage other clubs and venues to buy portable defibrillators.

View First Aid Corps World Map of AED Locations in a larger map

Kim Bielecki, an employee at the Centreville fitness facility, came to Prater’s aid, as well. On Monday afternoon, April 4, both Ingol and Bielecki received Citizen Lifesaving Awards from the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department.

Prater, 58, of Fairfax, had a heart attack but, thanks to CPR from Ingol and the use of a defibrillator by Bielecki, he was breathing and talking when responding paramedics took him to their ambulance. According to fire department spokesman Will Bailey, the whole event was remarkable.

Ed Prater the Survivor with Saviours Kim Bielecki & Ed Ingol

“You don’t see this, citizens who know to start CPR and people who know to get a defibrillator and use it correctly,” he said. “All the stars have to be aligned. And sometimes, even if they bring you back [to consciousness], if your brain’s deprived of oxygen for five or six minutes, you could be brain dead.”

Luckily, though, Ingol is a nurse at DeWitt Hospital at Fort Belvoir, so, when Prater ran into trouble while playing basketball with him, Ingol’s training kicked in immediately. “He went down at the foul line and just passed out,” said Ingol. “I checked to see if he was OK and there was no response, so I started CPR and called out for help.”

Ingol said Prater came around momentarily and then passed out again. That’s when Bielecki used the sports club’s automatic external defibrillator (AED) and shocked Prater’s heart. “I started CPR again and he responded,” said Ingol. “Then the EMS came.”

So how does he feel about saving a life? “I just look at it as a blessing from God that I was there at that time,” said Ingol.

“It was later than my normal time to come here. I’m usually here at noon, and this was almost 2 p.m. I was playing with a bunch of guys and [Prater] joined in. Then it was textbook the way everything played out — and with good results.”

When Bielecki heard Ingol’s call for help, she had someone call 911 and bring her the defibrillator. “I had it on [Prater] within 78 seconds,” she said. “We’ve never had to use it here before and, hopefully, won’t ever have to again.”

She said Life Time’s staff just had training recently on what to do in an emergency, and it paid off. “That’s our job, though, to make sure our members are safe, but Ed stepped up,” said Bielecki. In fact, during Monday’s ceremony there, she told Ingol, “For you to take the actions you did was wonderful. You exemplify what it means to be amazing.” She then thanked him and wished Prater a speedy recovery.

While presenting the lifesaving certificates to Ingol and Bielecki, Deputy Fire Chief Chuck Ryan said, “Mr. Prater went into cardiac arrest; only through their efforts is he here today. And having an AED available for the patrons here at Life Time is a tremendous thing.”

Capt. John Morris, commander of West Centreville Fire Station 38, said the actions of the two heroes “made a positive outcome that, in 25 years, I’ve only seen maybe three times. So hats off to everyone who participated. CPR classes do make a difference – but only if you act; thank you very much.”
Prater, who looked fit and trim, said afterward that he hadn’t been sick and thought he was in good health. So his heart attack came as a shock. “I really appreciated how they all responded and that they cared enough to help me,” he said.

Actually, he’d come to the club that day to play racquetball, but didn’t have any balls in his car. “Otherwise, I’d have been on the racquetball court alone,” said Prater. “I play golf, and I was starting my season and getting back in shape by doing cardio. So I played a whole-court basketball game and then a three-on-three half-court.”

“I was coming around a pick by my teammate, ready to receive his pass,” he said. “I saw it coming and went down on one knee because I was dizzy. Next thing I knew, there were 20 or 30 people around me, telling me they’d done CPR and used a defibrillator on me.”

Prater said he didn’t have any chest pain or shortness of breath, either when he went down or came to, he felt fine. Five days later, doctors at Inova Fairfax Hospital performed a triple bypass on him. He was released March 19 and, following cardiac rehab, he expects to be back to full strength by the beginning of May.

Basically, Prater believes in God’s will. “Whatever He wants to do, I’m on board,” he said. As for Ingol and Bielecki’s actions to save his life, he said, “It was awesome. I’m floored when people do what they ought to do, because I’m that person, that’s what I’d do.”

With the threat of malpractice or other lawsuits, he said, it’s easy for people to hesitate to help someone else because “nobody will penalize you for doing nothing. But my faith is strong. I believe God is who He says He is and will do what He says He will.”

Prater is the father of a grown daughter, Jacquelyn, an actress in Chicago, and a son, Marcus, 16, a sophomore at Thomas Jefferson. He’s also a life and business coach and teaches Awana (Approved Workers are Not Ashamed), a ministry teaching children to know, love and serve Jesus Christ. He teaches fourth through sixth-graders each Sunday at Antioch Baptist Church in Fairfax Station.

“The kids made me 30-40 get-well cards and that made me feel good,” he said. “That really made it easy for me to get better.” Regarding his brush with death, he said, “It makes me be more present to soak in the moment.”