First Aid Corps

Chiasson – who was a nurse before joining the OPP – was at a police association event at Splash Canyon Water Park and Resort on Nursery Road in Springwater Township with her family last week when she was told a woman had collapsed in a nearby pavilion.

Const. Robin Chiasson the Saviour

When Chiasson reached the woman and did a primary assessment there were no vital signs. Instinctively, she began CPR, compressing the woman’s chest while lifeguards went to get breathing apparatus.

“The lifeguards were really prompt in getting the mask they needed and that helped a lot,” she says.

Chiasson worked with the lifeguards to revive the woman until paramedics, firefighters and police arrived.

The woman – in her early 60s – was taken to Royal Victoria Hospital where she remains in serious condition, “but,” adds the young officer, “she’s still here fighting!”

Last November, the mother of three, and constable Peter Hunter of the Southern Georgian Bay OPP detachment, used a school’s AED (automated external defibrillator) and CPR to help revive a 13-year-old boy who was not exhibiting any vital signs after collapsing at James Keating Public School in Penetanguishene.

“I’m beginning to think I need an AED (automated external defibrillator) with me at all times,” she said.

Art Morris said his afternoon trip to Highway 7 Tim Hortons Sunday, Feb. 21 was a daily ritual. He arrived about 2 p.m., got his coffee and sat down to chat with a group of regulars.

After a while, one friend wondered why Art was leaning on him. “They told me that they thought I was leaning as if I was going to pick something off the floor, and I don’t remember another thing,” he said.

Two Tim Hortons staff members had started CPR right away.

At the couple’s home just south of Perth, Alma was getting ready for a shift as a supervisor at Lanark Lodge. “The phone rang about quarter after two and I thought maybe it was just friends calling for a visit, and I was rushing to get ready,” she recalled.

Fortunately, Alma decided to answer, and was told Art had fainted and was being taken to the Perth site of the Perth and Smiths Falls District Hospital.

Arriving at the hospital, Alma noticed there was a Perth Police vehicle there but didn’t realize “it was me they were waiting for.”

“When the ambulance staff arrived they made the comment that without the employees quick action, their efforts might not have been as successful,” said Alma. “We are very thankful.”

Alma said her knowledge of Art’s chances of survival, based on her professional experience, made the whole experience more terrifying if anything. “I was just like jelly,” she said. Doctors in both Perth and Kingston said Art’s survival, and relatively rapid recovery, were “a miracle.”

Last Monday Alma, along with her daughter, son, daughter-in-law and sister, went to the restaurant to thank the staff for helping to save Art.

“There were tears in our eyes, of course,” she said. “They weren’t looking for pay, they weren’t looking for words of praise or anything. The two staff members said thanks wasn’t necessary,” said Alma, “but my daughter piped up and said, “Yes, it is.”"

“If you can save one person out of a thousand, isn’t it worth it?” said Alma.

As Emilie Bioty’s boyfriend drove her to her Vandercook Lake home in August, she collapsed in the front passenger seat.

Emilie Bioty (right) the Survivor

Boyfriend Dalton Smaga made it into her driveway and ran into the house to alert Bioty’s parents, Alecia and Tom Bioty.

They performed CPR until paramedics arrived.

“They didn’t think she was going to make it,” Tom Bioty said. “We thought we had lost our baby.”

The 17-year-old survived, but she was an exception. She suffered from cardiac arrest, which kills more than 90 percent of its victims.

The Bioty family now encourage people to get trained in CPR, and Alecia Bioty says it should be taught in health classes at schools.

“You may never have to use it, but if you do need it, it’s there,” she said.

Emilie Bioty later was diagnosed with Long QT syndrome, a disorder that can cause a person to develop a dangerous heart rhythm called an arrhythmia. Now she takes medication and has a pacemaker and defibrillator.

After her near-death experience, Emilie Bioty stopped worrying about the small things and what people think about her, she said. She is a junior at Vandercook Lake High School.

“I have the support of my family, and we are dealing with what we think is our new normal,” she 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.

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.

Daniel Beahan, 13, an eighth-grader at Regina Coeli School in Hyde Park, said he was getting ready for bed when his family heard thrashing sounds coming from his grandfather’s room downstairs.

Daniel Beahan the Saviour

It was Sept. 9 around 9:40 p.m.

Daniel’s grandfather, Edward Robertson, 80, lost consciousness and went into respiratory arrest.

The teen’s father, Joseph Beahan, called 911, and Daniel quickly went to work performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

A dispatcher instructed the family to move Robertson from the bed onto a hard surface, like the floor, Joseph Beahan said.

Daniel doesn’t remember how long he performed CPR, but after a short while, his grandfather began labored breathing .

A few minutes later, state police arrived with an automated external defibrillator device.

Robertson was connected to the device, but it said no shock was advised because his heart was beating, Daniel said. His grandfather’s pacemaker was probably a factor in that, he said.

Robertson regained consciousness in the ambulance, en route to the hospital, he said.

Joseph Beahan, the buildings administrator for the Dutchess County Department of Public Works, said his son and his father-in-law have always been very close.

“You wonder how your kids will react in an emergency situation,” Beahan said. “He got in there and did exactly what he needed to do.

“His grandfather’s here because of him,” he said. “He thanks him every day.”

Daniel was certified in CPR by the American Heart Association through a course taught by the Heart Safe Club in Rhinebeck.

“We’re proud of him, that he put the skills to use,” Forbes said. “He acted quickly and didn’t just sit by.”

We will be reporting on lives saved around the world since our first documented life saved here in Singapore.

Gerry Cook (Left) Thanks His Rescuers

On Aug. 3, Gerry Cook was at Spruce Beach in Elliot Lake enjoying the sunny day with family visiting from down south for the August long weekend. 

Cook, an Elliot Lake resident since 1980, went for a swim, but almost didn’t make it back to the beach.

The 69-year-old Cook says he blacked out while in the water. It was his grandson who first noticed something was wrong because he could not see his grandfather.

Five city lifeguards were recognized at the Jan. 1 mayor’s levee, Craig Roy and Dylan Lees, who performed CPR on Cook, along with Leah deBortoli, Ben Shipman and Christina Ucci. They received certificates from the city for rescuing and resuscitating Cook at Spruce Beach.

Cook also went up front to personally thank the youths for saving his life.

As a result of their actions, the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation recognized the two lifeguards who performed CPR and the EFR firefighters for their efforts and awarded them a plaque for the lifeguards and certificates for the EFR firefighters.

A grateful Cook presented the plaques and certificates to the lifeguards and the firefighters.

“If it wasn’t for the co-ordinated efforts of all you people,” Cook told the group, “I probably would not be here today because it was so close.”

We will be reporting on lives saved around the world since our first documented life saved here in Singapore.

Dr. Ken Johnson and referee Danny Rogers

Rogers, 61, was thirsty and walked across the field to get some water. That’s the last thing he remembers.

 “I remember a black cloud coming over me,” he said. “I woke up subconsciously and heard this voice. It didn’t sound like a man or a woman, but it said, ‘You’re going to be all right.’ That’s when I sat right up.”

The voice was that of Johnson, the team physician for Laurence Manning Academy.

I was on the sidelines and saw a referee coming towards me,” he said.

“He kind of just fell down. It looked like somebody had poured a bucket of water on him when I got to him. He was in full cardiac arrest. I began mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and one of the other coaches started chest compression.”

Johnson said he normally has a defibrillator, but because Laurence Manning was the visiting team, they didn’t have one that night. It was at least five minutes before the ambulance arrived.

“By keeping Danny’s circulation and oxygen level up, his heart started re-circulating, and he came to,” Johnson said. “He doesn’t remember any of it. He wanted to get up and get back on the field, but I told him he wasn’t going anywhere except to the closest emergency room.”

“They all got to see what CPR was like for real,” he said. “Several of the coaches said they had seen it on TV, but never in person. CPR is a life-saver, and people need to learn how to do it.

“They saw it save a man’s life. … This man was not with us, he was gone. Probably for 5, 6 minutes he had no pulse, no respiration, but by doing CPR, he had no brain damage. He actually didn’t really have a heart attack because we kept the blood circulating.”

“We got to him within 10 seconds after he collapsed,” he said. “I think that was key – that we were so fast on the scene, which gave his heart time to start beating again. I just thank God that he’s still here.”

And what’s even more amazing is Rogers had never experienced any heart problem up to that point. There was no history of heart attacks in his family, either.

“I had a physical two months before this happened,” he said. “My cholesterol was fine and everything else was great. I run a martial arts school and I stay in good shape.” Johnson, who lives in Manning, reiterated that CPR saves lives.

We will be reporting on lives saved around the world since our first documented life saved here in Singapore. 

Lori Broadbent RN (right) & Patty Sheehan RN

“I was sitting behind Patty, and when I saw her jump up, I just automatically jumped up,” said Broadbent.

Seconds later, she found herself with Sheehan and LIJMC’s Maria Giraldo, RN, BSN, kneeling over a man who wasn’t breathing and had no pulse.

“I just remember we all said, ‘He has no pulse and he isn’t breathing.’ Then we just each went to work,” said Broadbent.

As Broadbent yelled for an AED (automatic external defibrillator) and emergency kit, Giraldo gave the man mouth to mouth and about 15 compressions.

Seconds later, Sheehan, a staff nurse who also works in nursing informatics, found a pulse.

Rescue Teams at Airport

“We probably had him back within 60 seconds — before the defibrillator arrived from the far end of the plane,” said Broadbent.

“We’re not used to all the accolades we’ve been getting for doing what we were trained to do,” said Giraldo. “Nurses save lives all the time, that’s what we do, and no one usually says, hey, good job saving a life. This time they are — and it’s nice.”