First Aid Corps

A 50-year-old passenger collapsed in the Sky Harbor Airport’s security checkpoint line Monday morning at 5:35 a.m.

Two witnesses who happened to be nurses performed CPR on the man, and when a Phoenix Police officer got there, the passenger was not breathing.

Officer Brian Warren located an automated external defibrillator and used it to shock the passenger one time.

By that time, Officers Kim Walsh, Tim Essick and Paul Rooks arrived on scene and took turns performing CPR on the passenger.

When firefighters arrived, they transported the patient to the hospital in critical condition.

Two Second Precinct Police Officers helped save the life of a retired New York Police Department officer who was suffering from a heart attack in a Huntington bank this morning.

Officer Anthony Leo responded to a Wachovia branch where employees were administering CPR to Brian Lynch, 49, of Smithtown, at about 9 am.

Officers Leo and David Weymouth utilized an automatic external defibrillator and revived Lynch who was in cardiac arrest.

Lynch, who retired a year ago from the NYPD and now works for Wachovia, was transported to Huntington Hospital by Huntington Community First Aid Squad.

Fortunately for Catskill resident James Brennan of Hudson Avenue, it took less than four minutes for emergency responders to arrive after his collapse.

EMTs Rob, Michael & Cory the Saviours

At 6:10 p.m., Brennan’s wife called 911, reaching Catskill Police Department dispatcher Erika Ruger, and Catskill Police Officer Steven Deitz was dispatched to the residence at 6:12 p.m. and began CPR by 6:14 p.m.

Catskill Ambulance Emergency Medical Technician Cory Birk, who was off-duty and visiting a friend only a block away on High Street, overheard the radio communications on his friend’s police scanner and responded to the scene.

He quickly utilized the Automatic Electronic Defibrillator, which each Catskill Police patrol car equips, and was able to revive Brennan, who is in his 60s, according to EMTs.

“When someone puts their professional responsibilities beyond their own personal needs, it is beyond invaluable when it comes to saving someone’s life,” said Town Supervisor Peter Markou, who commended Birk with the first-ever citation for outstanding performance by a first responder.

Catskill EMT Michael Eisshofer of East Greenbush and EMT-Intermediate Rob Brooks of Purling were also commended by the board for their service in the incident.

Eisshofer and Brooks responded and performed further CPR to stabilize Brennan.

“He was touch and go for a while there,” said Brooks, who noted he became unresponsive during treatment.

“If we weren’t there for another two minutes,” Brooks said, “he wouldn’t have had a chance.”

“A life was saved because of their service,” Markou said of the responders.

“I just did my job,” said Birk.

“They don’t feel that they’ve done anything special,” said Catskill Ambulance Administrator Matthew Leibowitz, “but of course, whenever you save a life it’s special.”

“This is what we do,” said Brooks. “It’s special in that there are not many situations where they are actually able to walk out of the hospital.”

47-year-old Jackie Shashaty suffered a heart attack around 11:30 p.m., on Saturday, Jan. 9, collapsed on her bedroom floor, and began to have a seizure.

Shashaty’s boyfriend, Cedar Grove Police Officer Scott Moody, was inside her house, heard the fall, and raced into the bedroom where he discovered Shashaty had no pulse.

Her heart had stopped beating.

Moody performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Shashaty, a mother of two, and called 911.

Moody also called Shashaty’s sister, Marge Quirk, a Jersey City school nurse, who lives just up the road from Shashaty.

Officers and emergency personnel responded to Shashaty’s Rugby Road home in a matter of minutes.

By the time she arrived on the scene, Quirk was watching members of Cedar Grove’s Ambulance and Rescue Squad shock Shashaty’s heart with a defibrillator.

“I knew she was not alive at that moment,” said Quirk.

Shashaty said her heart was shocked a total of six times by the defibrillator before it slowly began to beat and a faint pulse returned.

Cedar Grove Ambulance and Rescue Squad members transported Shashaty to Mountainside Hospital in Montclair.

A few days after having the implantation of an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, Shashaty was released from the hospital. She is now recovering at her home along with the help of her two children.

Although she had a busy schedule on Jan. 9, Shashaty said she has no recollection of anything that occurred before or after the heart attack.

“I didn’t see anything,” said Shashaty after being revived. “I don’t have a recollection of anything.”

When asked if she had a message to the emergency personnel who helped resuscitate her, Shashaty said, “Thank you for saving my life. My kids still have their mom.”

Lewis Gooden was visiting friends on Old East Road on Dec. 4.

Karen & David Rodham the Saviours

After visiting and having a cup of tea with Karen and David Rodham, he got up to leave and suddenly collapsed, suffering from sudden cardiac arrest.

Mrs. Rodham said they were all standing together so her husband was able to catch Mr. Gooden before he hit the floor and she immediately called 911. “It was seconds that he could’ve been out the door,” she said.

The 911 operator in Laconia walked the couple through the new CPR format, keeping Mrs. Rodham calm on the phone. The operator had her count compressions out loud while Mr. Rodham actually performed the 600 chest compressions as directed. Then help started to arrive.

“Thank God for Rick, he came walking through the door right at 600,” Mrs. Rodham said. Officer Rick Grima of the Whitefield police used the AED (automated external defibrillator) from his cruiser and was able to successfully shock Mr. Gooden’s heart.

The officer, a former EMT himself, admitted it was the first time he’d ever had to shock anyone. “I guess you did a good job,” Mr. Gooden quipped, laughing as the two men spoke.

Mr. Roy said he doesn’t remember any of the events of Dec. 4, but he’s thankful for everyone who helped.

After being transported to Weeks Medical Center in Whitefield, he was flown to Catholic Medical Center in Manchester and now sports an internal defibrillator to regulate his heart.

Mr. Rodham applauded the efforts of both Lancaster and Whitefield EMS in saving his friend. Among the responders were experienced EMTs, teen Explorers and the Fire Chiefs themselves, all of who played a role in helping to keep Mr. Roy alive en route to the hospital.

Lt. Danielle Frye,a fire marshal for Loudoun County, was driving along Edwards Ferry Road near Woodberry Road when she noticed a vehicle driving erratically.

Moore, Kadric & Fyre the Saviours

When the vehicle stopped, Frye noticed the driver, Terry McCaffrey, of Leesburg, was slouched over the wheel unconscious.

Officer Mirza Kadric saw the stopped vehicle and thought it was a traffic accident, so he stopped.

When he realized that 7-year-old Leesburg man McCaffrey was unconscious, Kadric radioed dispatch for assistance and helped Frye pull him onto the road.

The two noticed McCaffrey wasn’t breathing and did not have a pulse, so they began CPR – Kadric giving chest compressions while Frye gave rescue breaths.

Leesburg Police Sgt. T.J. Moore heard the call from the police station and responded with an Automated External Defibrillator.

When Moore arrived, Frye thought about the snow on the ground and placed her coat under McCaffrey so he would be dry while they used the defibrillator on him.

Kadric and Frye placed the wires on McCaffrey’s chest, while Moore operated the machine.

The defibrillator took McCaffrey’s readings and advised that Moore administer a shock, so he did.

McCaffrey’s heart started beating just as an ambulance arrived to take him to Inova Loudoun Hospital.

He is expected to make a full recovery from his heart attack.

Frye, Kadric and Moore said that during the incident, what they had learned in training completely took over.

“It was almost like a thoughtless process,” Moore said.

Frye said that after McCaffrey’s heart started beating, she felt “a sense of awe that it worked.”

“It’s good to see that side of helping somebody,” Kadric said.

“It feels good to save somebody’s life, but it’s what we do,” Moore said, adding that he felt a sense of relief when he heard the ambulance arrive.

Back in August, Karen Henderson, a Walmart employee noticed two shoplifters leaving the Miami Gardens store and she ran after them into the parking lot to retrieve the items.

On her way back to the store she collapsed.

Fortunately, Sgt. Jorge Yero, an off duty Miami Dade officer, was working nearby and ran to get his defibrillator.

Yero shocked her twice, started chest compressions, and eventually Henderson began to breathe again.

“I wasn’t thinking,” said Sgt. Yero. “I was just doing what we are trained to do and thank God I had the AED with me and I was at the right time at the right place.”

Henderson has no memory of the whole ordeal. All she remembers is a dream in which she saw long lost relatives at her childhood home.

“The door was cracked and there was this sunset light,” recalled Henderson. “The light drew me to the room and when I went to the room, I went to push the door open and the door closed back.”

She said her grandmother and other relatives told her to go home and that’s when she woke up and returned to life. Despite the ordeal, Henderson said she’s eager to return to work.

“If I could I would,” she said. “I don’t have no regrets no regrets thousands and thousands of shoplifters, I have no regrets.”

It was during the early evening hours of Jan. 27, when Officer Jeremy Tetreault and Sgt. John Wasson were out on patrol and answered a call reporting a female having difficulty breathing.

Jill Heap (center) the Survivor

Wasson and Tetreault immediately realized that Jill Heap’s condition had worsened to the point where she was not breathing, had no pulse and no blood pressure.

Using a portable defibrillator from one of the police cruisers, the officers began the process that would ultimately save Heap’s life.

“I began the CPR process,” Wasson said.

“The sergeant gave her some breaths while I did the compressions,” Tetreault said.

Amidst all the activity, Tetreault was tending to Heap’s husband and two daughters, and two dogs, advising them to go to a neighbor’s home while the officers did their work.

“We began the process until the Fire Department arrived and took over,” Wasson said. “It was a joint effort and we saved a life. We’re all ‘first responders,’ and we work together,” Wasson said.

“I was proud and energized,” Wasson said, when asked how he felt after the successful teamwork paid off. “It puts you right back on top again.”

And on top again is just where the Heap family finds itself today. While Jill Heap has little or no recollection of what happened in her family room that day, her husband is quick to praise both police officers, as well as the Fire Department, which provides the CPR training.

“All the (responders) were very, very professional,” Derek Heap said, “professional and kind, just outstanding.”

Katelyn Heap, an eighth-grader at Seabrook Middle School, said she was “terrified” when her mother became ill.

“I feel grateful that they jumped right into action,” Katelyn said.

“I was very petrified, very scared,” said her sister Brooke, a fourth grader at Seabrook Elementary School. “I’m grateful to the Seabrook Fire Department.”

Jill Heap said she feels fine now, and that she has had a defibrillator inserted into her body.

In August of last year, Durham police officer Gerry Elliott was directing game traffic in front of the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

“I remember taking a step to walk out of the intersection and everything went white,” Elliott said.

He fell and a fellow officer caught him.

“He told me he rolled me over and when he rolled me over, my complexion was kind of grayish blue and my lips were dark blue,” Elliott recalled.

Elliott’s heart stopped beating.

An EMT grabbed an automatic external defibrillator (AED) from the park’s office, and shocked his heart back to life.

A quick response and the AED saved Elliott’s life.

“We call them idiot proof, I mean, they basically show you where to put the pads, you hit a button and step back and it tells you what to do next,” Elliott said.

“I used to believe in luck, but now I just believe that I’m really blessed. I really do,” he said.

Ellen Davis, a 69-year-old Zillah grandmother and substitute schoolteacher, collapsed about 6 a.m in West Valley Walmart on Nov. 27, the busy shopping day known as Black Friday.

Almost immediately she was surrounded by help.

Off-duty nurses and firefighters who were shopping, a police officer working store security and Walmart employees all pitched in.

Some of them performed CPR.

They kept Davis alive until the ambulance arrived nine minutes later.

Her heart was revived with an electric shock en route to Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital.

One worker ran to fetch a first aid kit while other workers formed a human chain to give the rescue workers room to move.

Stephanie Pruett, a Walmart employee who performed the first chest compressions on Davis.

Some of the rescuers include :

Sgt. Mike Henne of the Yakima Police Department, who was working as private security for Walmart and performed CPR.

Tara Prescott, an off-duty Memorial Hospital registered nurse who performed CPR.

Ed Vertrees, an off-duty Yakima Training Center firefighter who performed CPR.

Sara Wisner, an off-duty registered nurse, who helped keep Davis’ airway open during CPR and helped ambulance workers keep a tight seal on a respirator bag.

As far as she can tell, Davis has fully recovered from the incident, though she has a stent in her heart and her family teases her about brain damage.

“I am just about normal as far as that goes, but that’s not saying a lot,” she said with a laugh.

She appreciated all her rescuers’ efforts, but they didn’t surprise her.

“A lot of people, more than you realize, are willing to help people in any way they can,” Davis said.