First Aid Corps

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.

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.”

A veteran male employee in his 40s began suffering from cardiac problems late Tuesday afternoon while working in the basement of the municipal office on Perry Street.

Observing their colleague in distress, a trio of employees jumped into action and administered CPR and used a nearby defibrillator.

Emergency crews also quickly arrived at the municipal office to assist.

As of Wednesday morning, the man remained in hospital.

It was about 3:30 p.m. on Jan. 2, 2009.

Glenn Powers the Survivor

Glenn Powers, the cooler supervisor of Washington Beef in Toppenish and a Selah grandfather of seven, was discussing the next day’s schedule with his boss when he blacked out while having a heart attack and collapsed.

His boss, Kevin Lawson, and other co-workers performed CPR until the plant’s contracted medical administrator showed up with the plant’s AED.

The second shock resuscitated his heart.

Powers, now 60, took a few months off for therapy but has since returned to work full time and said he has no ill effects, other than getting tired a little quicker than previously.

The company has since purchased three more AEDs and keeps 40 of its 800 employees trained to use them.

“Had we not had the AED on site … the outcome with Glenn probably would have been tragically different,” said Brad McDowell, president of AB Foods, the parent company of Washington Beef.

Dwayne G. Miller was in the locker room after finishing his shift at Teleflex Medical Inc., which manufactures medical devices in Bern Township.

Michael Senishen (right) the Survivor

“Person down in the hallway,” someone screamed.

Michael J. Senishen, reporting for second shift, had blacked out and was lying near the locker room entrance.

Dwayne, who’d been trained in life-saving techniques, rushed to his co-worker’s aid.

“I got to him about a minute after he collapsed,” recalled Dwayne, 46, of Muhlenberg Township, who’s been involved in firefighting and rescue operations for 28 years in the Leesport area.

“He was unresponsive, had no pulse and was not breathing.”

Dwayne began CPR, interspersing chest compressions with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Teleflex’s safety supervisor, Gerry Hart, joined in the life-saving effort.

Teleflex has a team of workers trained in CPR and emergency techniques, including use of an automated external defibrillator, or AED.

Maintenance supervisor Tom Gentile rushed one of the AEDs, which are stationed throughout the plant, to the scene. The first jolt brought no response. The second fared no better.

The clock was ticking. Twenty minutes had passed since Mike had collapsed.

Dwayne, recognizing the odds were shifting against Mike, began to fear the worst.

As he prepared the defibrillator for a third deployment, an astonishing thing happened: Mike started breathing.

The breaths were faint and irregular at first.

“He was struggling,” Dwayne recalled. “The great thing, though, was that he was breathing on his own.”

Dwayne handed Mike’s care over to Western Berks Ambulance medics, who administered oxygen and rushed Mike toSt. Joseph Medical Center.

Mike has difficulty finding words to express his gratitude to the co-workers who brought him back from the brink.

That his co-workers were trained and worked together as a team, Mike said, certainly had a lot to do with his survival.

Dwayne agrees but thinks something more intangible was at work.

“I guess you’d have to say,” he reasons, “it was a case where all the stars fell right in line.”

Mike’s doctors tell him he’s doing fine. He’s still in cardiac rehabilitation, but has been cleared to return to work after the holidays.

Mike makes no pretence, though, that he’s the same man he was before the attack. On one hand, he’s a lot more appreciative of things. He takes time, as he puts it, to smell the roses.

East Union High School attendance office employee Sue Bloodgood didn’t utter a word or make a sound on the morning of Nov. 19.

She just collapsed onto her desk.

The 52-year-old Bloodgood was working with campus monitor Julia Bylow, filing some paperwork to document a small scuffle between students on campus that morning, when she went lifeless and entered into cardiac arrest.

“I went over and said ‘Sue, Sue,’ but no response,” said Bylow, who, as chance would have it, had completed a cardiopulmonary resuscitation course just two weeks before - instruction that helped her save the life of her friend and colleague.

Bylow put Bloodgood in position and began CPR, delivering oxygen to her for four solid minutes, said Karl Knutsen, an East Union JROTC teacher.

After four minutes of CPR from Bylow, head football coach Mike James and Knudsen stepped in for an additional two before the paramedics team of Keith Danel and Jon Mendoza arrived to transport Bloodgood to a Kaiser Permanente facility before she was transferred to Doctors Hospital in Modesto.

“She was lifeless and she had no pulse,” Danel said. “They did an awesome job with the CPR.”

The very next day, Bloodgood was in good health, could take directions, apparently with little to no brain damage.

“I’m just so happy to be here,” Bloodgood said Tuesday night as she delivered hugs and thanks to the employees who were honored by Manteca Unified’s Board of Trustees for their heroic actions.

“Sue wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for them,” said Sue’s husband, Scott Bloodgood.

One minute Roger Shearer was doing what he does every day, trying to fix a piece of equipment on B.Braun’s high-tech manufacturing floor.

The next, he was flat on his back, his heart stopped and his face rapidly turning blue.

The 45-year-old equipment mechanic was suffering from a massive heart attack that day, Aug 21.

‘I went over to make a few adjustments, when I turned to walk away I walked about three steps and dropped dead on the floor,” said Shearer of Wind Gap. ”I woke up six days later in the hospital, and my brother told me I had a heart attack at work and I had no idea.”

Deanna Feidler, a product assembly worker who was on the floor at the time, remembered hearing one of her co-workers yell Shearer’s name, then saw him lying motionless on the floor. She immediately triggered the company’s first responder alert, called 911 and ran for the nearest defibrillator.

Feidler, 44, who has been with the company for two decades, said Shearer’s heart may have stopped, but hers was beating out of her chest.

”It was just like racing, and you are all nervous and your emotions are running high,” she said. ”I mean this is your co-worker, a guy that you know, and he’s a great guy and you are just like in shock.”

Machine operator Pam Evans, who arrived at Shearer’s side soon after Feidler went to get the defibrillator, said it quickly became evident Shearer was in trouble.

‘He was purple,” she said. ”We called for the one paramedic we knew we had in the building.”

Then they cut away Shearer’s clothes, administered oxygen and initiated CPR while another worker, Marvin Muffley, 45, of Nazareth, hooked up the defibrillator, which scanned Shearer’s heart, did not detect a heartbeat and recommended a jolt. Muffley administered the shock and they detected a weak heartbeat.

‘It was just like a big jolt to his body and he still was incoherent and everything,” said Corey Koerner, 40, of Bethlehem, the last to arrive on the scene. ”It took a couple of seconds and you could start seeing a faint heartbeat. Eventually it got stronger and stronger and he started breathing a little. It sounded like he was snoring. And he turned back to white.”

They all breathed a sigh of relief. The whole thing only took about 12 minutes, before paramedics rolled Shearer out and took him to the hospital, leaving behind the exhausted workers, some of whom broke into tears.

It was another blow for Shearer, who lost his wife earlier this year.

Shearer says since the heart attack, his co-workers have inspired him to change.

“Because of what they did, they saved my life. And I’m indebted to them forever, and I have to change my life because of that.”

Now Shearer, who lives with his 19-year-old son, Nicholas Vargo, said he takes every day as an unexpected gift.

”It’s changed me tremendously,” Shearer said. ”I do not worry about anything. There is no more stress in my life.”

Monday morning, Nov. 2, got off to a frightening start at the Tucson office of worldwide engineering firm Aker Solutions.

Aker Solutions Staff the Saviours

Employee Chuck Musarra collapsed in his cubicle on the fifth floor, a victim of cardiac arrest.

Fortunately, there was an automated external defibrillator (AED) in the office and Musarra’s colleagues knew how to use it. They sprang into action.

Emergency Medical Services were summoned via a 911 phone call by Julie Norminton and Stacy Miller.

Nelson Leidenz initiated CPR and was relieved by Viral Doshi while Rene Nocos retrieved the AED.

Marc Gomez, Bob Hayes and Dan Warter arrived at Chuck’s cubicle. Marc Gomez began deploying the AED. Bob Hayes and Dan Warter opened Chuck’s shirt and applied the AED pads to Chuck’s chest.

The AED began analyzing the heart rhythm and advised to stay clear and then proceeded to deliver the first shock. Bob Hayes resumed compressions and Dan Warter began working airway management. The AED again analyzed the heart rhythm and delivered the second shock. Again, Bob Hayes resumed compressions and Dan Warter was working on managing the airway.

Tuscon Fire Department emergency services team arrived and transported Musarra to the hospital, where he was conscious on arrival. He underwent triple bypass surgery later that day, and is now recovering.

His colleagues at Aker Solutions are thrilled with the news—and the knowledge that, working together, with CPR and an AED, they saved a friend’s life.

“We had three or four people working CPR at different times, and at least a couple with the AED, plus a couple for some cool, calm thinking that made a difference,” Worter told us. “It was a group effort.”

John Morse, 53, had just dumped the remnants of a burned home inside the transfer station when he suddenly slumped behind the wheel of his dump truck.

The truck crashed through a concrete barrier and hit a parked semitrailer before coming to a stop.

Rogue Transfer and Recycling risk manager Mike Messenger was inside his office when a frantic disposal worker called saying chaos had broken out inside the transfer station.

“When I learned it was possibly a heart attack I asked a co-worker to grab the (heart defibrillator),” Messenger said. “We got it four years ago and that day it proved it was worth every penny.”

When Morse was pulled from the truck he was not breathing and had turned blue.

Matt Weis of Medford was tossing out a load of yard waste when he saw the scene unfold.

Weis is trained in CPR and jogged to where Messenger and the others were beginning to work on Morse’s motionless body.

“In that situation you think there has to be someone better trained than you to handle things,” Weis said. “But it occurred to me that maybe I was ready to do this.”

Weis described Morse’s face as “being more blue than anyone I’d ever seen.”

Messenger attached the heart defibrillator pads to Morse. The machine reported there was not a heartbeat and suggested delivering a shock to restart the man’s heart.

After the shock, a weak heartbeat was detected. Messenger and Weis then traded off performing CPR for three and a half minutes before crews from Jackson County Fire District No. 3 arrived.

They rushed Morse to Rogue Valley Medical Center, where he was placed in the cardiac-care unit. He survived the attack with minor damage to his heart and is expected to make a slow, steady recovery, according to his wife, Debbie Morse.

“He was in the right place at the right time,” Debbie Morse said. “If he had been driving down the road when this happened, he could have killed himself and other people.”

Debbie Morse described Messenger and Weis as “angels” for their quick work that day.

She also said that all businesses should have a heart defibrillator on hand in case of emergencies.

“Those things should be everywhere,” she said. “It saved my husband’s life.”

John Morse returned home Saturday and was resting after his ordeal.

“We are so glad to have him home,” Debbie Morse said. “Those men who helped my husband are the reason he’s here right now.”

Back on August 11th, salesman David West collapsed near his desk at Walthers Company in Milwaukee.

He had no heartbeart or brain activity. West was by definition, dead.

But co-worker Chris Christiansen jumped in to perform CPR. So did Mark Hansen and company president Phil Walthers.

All three were honored at their company Monday for working hard until firefighters were able to take control get West to a hospital.

The firefighters reportedly shocked West’s heart with a defibrillator many times.

At the ceremony Monday, West said, “I go home every night and I thank God that I’m alive. Every night before I go to bed, he gave me a second chance. All these people did… Thank you very much. I don’t know how to thank you guys enough.”

Mr Browne, 63, runs Australia’s oldest stockbroking company, Tolhurst Group. On Friday, March 27 this year, he’d chaired an animated, often acrimonious meeting in its 15th-floor boardroom. When it finished, he was looking forward to a calming cup of tea. He remembers beginning to pour one and then… nothing.

David Browne the Survivor

He was dropped by a sudden cardiac arrest. His heart stopped and he was, for a while, dead.

As a colleague began CPR, another ran for the defibrillator.

The electrode pads were placed on his chest, one just below his right collarbone and the other on the left side over his lower ribs. Voice prompts on the machine told the operator that a shock was needed and to push the button to deliver it.

Mr Browne’s heart began beating and he started breathing again.

The first ambulance paramedics, Dean Jensen and Desmond Keane, arrived on the scene at 10 minutes after receiving the call.

As they walked in the door, Mr Browne’s heart stopped again and they shocked him to restart it.

Mr Browne had always encouraged first-aid courses for the company’s 200 employees, bringing in tutors to teach cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR, and the like: “And I think one of them said to me that if we were going to do CPR, why not go the whole hog.”

“This might sound like hindsight, but the demographic of stockbroking, with the tension that arises, is probably a monte for somebody, somewhere, to have this sort of problem,” says Mr Browne. “I just didn’t expect to be the first guinea pig.”

“They’re easy to use, you’re prompted all the way, you don’t need any medical knowledge… All it needs is someone to grab that machine and turn it on.”