First Aid Corps

Dave Carlstrom, a former Fairbanks airport marketing director and minister, had just finished playing racquetball at a gym in Seattle when his heart stopped in early December. They say he was dead.

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And he would have been, except the people around him knew just what to do — they gave him CPR and hooked him up to an automatic external defibrillator.

“You never think it will happen to you,” said Carlstrom, who turned 62 the next day. “I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for the quick-thinking staff and members at the gym who were able to apply CPR and activate the AED within three minutes of the incident.”

It happened at the L.A. Fitness center in Ballard. After Carlstrom and his racquetball partner, Leo Muller, sat down after their game, Carlstrom felt ill.

I was “sitting down on the bench, as is our usual custom to catch a breath, putting away the gear, and suddenly feeling a profound sense of unwellness,” Carlstrom told the TV station.

Then he slid to the floor, his face turning purple.

Flight attendant Page Huletz was working out and saw what happened. As part of her airline work, she receives periodic training on CPR and the use of external defibrillators.

As the employees of the health club rushed to perform CPR on Dave, Huletz reached for the electronic device.

“Right away we shocked him, his body comes up off the floor, and then the shock is absorbed and he took his first breath, and that was a miracle right there,” Huletz.

Dave was in the hospital for five days and is back at home. The story says he was “banned” from the racquetball courts until January.

He appeared on the TV story with the flight attendant who saved him and he also posed for pictures with the fire department personnel, who arrived in less than four minutes, and the health club workers.

“There’s been enormous mercy and grace in my life,” Dave said.

I asked Dave by email what it felt like when his heart stopped. He repeated the comment about the mercy and grace that has come his way and said:

“As for what it was like … after keeling over (quick, painless … great way to exit this mortal stage, albeit with a few loose ends for successors and assigns) I only saw darkness, i.e., no beckoning tunnel of light, etc.,” he said.

“I asked our pastor if I should be concerned. She thought a moment and inquired, ‘What was the temperature?’ No flames, so the matter was deemed theologically inconclusive … could be going either way.”

Six women entered the pool for the women’s 100 yard breaststroke at the Florida Senior Games.

Sylvia Eisele the Survivor

Their ages ranged from 75 to 86.

As two other swimmers who were not competing in the race watched from behind the starting block, their eyes locked on one of the competitors who gracefully swam from wall to wall.

“Look at lane 5,” one of them said. “Such a smooth stroke.”

Indeed, lane 5 was full of grace as Sylvia Eisele — who nearly died during a race two years ago — embarked on a memorable day.

In addition to her aquatic elegance, Eisele did make a really big splash on Saturday at Gandy Pool in Lakeland.

Following a two-year absence from competitive swimming, the 82-year-old from the Cypress Lake section of Fort Myers returned to the water in record-setting fashion.

As her husband, Nicholas, watched from the sidelines, Eisele competed in three races and set Florida Senior Games age group records in every one.

“It’s been a great day for her,” Nicholas proudly stated.

“I enjoy the water. I love the water,” Eisele said. “I should have been a fish, not a human being.”

For the past two years, Eisele was a fish out of water.

Two years ago, swimming and everything else in her life came to a sudden halt. Near the end of a long day at a Canadian national competition in Toronto — close to the couple’s home in Mississauga — Eisele suffered a heart incident during a race.

“Two arm lengths from the wall, I felt a pain in my head and I was gone,” she recalled. “I was sinking.”

“Her heart stopped,” said Nicholas.

After being pulled out of the water, lifeguards quickly went to work. One provided mouth-to-mouth resuscitation while the other grabbed a defibrillator.

“I was dead on the deck,” Eisele said. “They had to get a defibrillator to get my heart going.”

The prompt response saved Eisele’s life.

“We were so lucky that there was such good medical help available,” Nicholas said.

Her recuperation in a hospital lasted nine days.

Her absence from competitive swimming lasted two years.

“It’s been rough on her because she’s been a competitor all her life,” Nicholas said.

Before she arrived in North America more than a half-century ago, Eisele was an elite swimmer in her native Austria.

The competitive juices that flowed back then — be it in swimming, tennis, cycling or downhill skiing — are still present today in the pool.

“I like competition. I’m a very competitive person,” she said.

Eisele has been a fixture in the local swim scene since she and her husband moved to Fort Myers 25 years ago. She is a longtime member of the Swim Florida club program run by Mac Kennedy. Eisele still practices right next to the program’s young swimmers.

“Mac gives me a lane. He treats me very nicely,” she said.

Eisele, who has competed around the globe — from Australia to Brazil to Germany to New Zealand and has held world records in masters swimming — showed no signs of rust as she returned to the lanes for competition on Saturday.

Accompanied by a device that is implanted near her collarbone in order to make sure her heart beats the way it’s supposed to, Eisele set new age group records for the women’s 80-84 division in the 100 yard breastroke (2:02), 100 yard individual medley (2:02) and 50-yard breastroke (:53.50).

“She swims the 50 faster than I can walk it,” said Nicholas, 85.

On this day, the records didn’t carry quite as much significance for Eisele. Simply being back in the pool for competitive races was enough of a reward.

“I like to be active,” she said. “I like to do things to stay healthy, mentally and physically, that’s the key.”

Quick thinking, the availability of an Automatic External Defibrillator machine, and assistance from several community members are being credited for saving the life of a Weed man who collapsed last week at a Siskiyou Land Trust fundraiser.

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The approximately 100 people who showed up at the Mount Shasta Resort for a slideshow about New Zealand last Wednesday got much more than they bargained for when 83 year old Erv Gross had a heart attack and collapsed to the floor.

“Thank God for the doctors, the defibrillator and the prayers surrounding me,” said 83 year old Erv Gross from his home on Monday, where he’s now doing just fine. “I’ll be forever grateful… and I can’t talk much longer or I’ll start to cry.”

When Gross went down in the crowded room, just as he arrived a few minutes before the presentation began, Peter Mt. Shasta, who was standing nearby, thought he’d banged his head.

“I tried to talk to him, but when he didn’t respond I put my hand on his heart and felt there was no beat and that he had stopped breathing,” Mt. Shasta said.

Doctors Jim Parker and Alan Cohn rushed over and immediately began CPR.

Mount Shasta’s Raven Stevens, who was standing directly behind Gross when he fell, immediately called 911.

Several other people with emergency training and cool heads were also present, including Lon Fitton, who took over chest compressions for Parker when he became exhausted, Neil Posson, Carol Winston, and Rick Demarest.

Demarest said Parker looked up at one point to ask if there was a defibrillator in the house, and he and Stevens went to find one.

“I ran to the front desk to ask if they had a defibrillator, and they did,” Stevens said. She quickly ran back upstairs with the device.

The machine had its own verbal instructions on how to get it working and talked the group through all the steps. After it was charged and Parker got the paddles on, they pressed the button.

“He had no pulse. He wasn’t breathing and was turning blue,” Parker said. “This man was very fortunate to get nearly immediate CPR and shortly thereafter the benefit of the defibrillator.”

Parker said after Gross was shocked with the defibrillator, his heart began beating again on its own, but he still wasn’t breathing. A short while later, he began gasping and his color returned.

A few minutes after Gross began breathing, Parker said emergency crews arrived from the Mount Shasta Fire Protection District and Mt. Shasta Ambulance.

He was taken to Mercy Medical Center Mt. Shasta and then to Mercy Redding.

Cohn said he was glad he could be helpful in such an intense situation.

“I was aware that this was a life and death situation, but at the same time I knew I was doing what I could to help,” he said.

“As a physician, whenever you hear ‘Is there a doctor in the house?’ you have to respond… I’m just glad there were a lot of people there to help,” said Parker.

Both doctors believe the defibrillator saved Gross’s life.

“Two weeks ago, I’d have bet anything I would never have a heart attack,” said Gross, who owns American Stor-n-loc in Weed and has been a Siskiyou County resident since 1979. “I’m an average weight and I eat healthy; I just can’t believe it.”

Parker said he was so impressed with the AED and its detailed instructions, he is looking into purchasing one for his own office. He praised the crowd for its quick thinking and the response of the emergency responders.

Gross will celebrate his 84th birthday next month.

An Ottawa firefighter said he’s looking forward to having a beer with the opposing player whose life he helped save during a game of hockey Friday night.

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Ottawa paramedics said a 61-year-old man was playing hockey at the Kanata Recreation Complex when he collapsed around 10:30 p.m. Friday.

Off-duty firefighter Pat Aubry skated over, felt he had no pulse and immediately asked for someone to call 911 and get the public access defibrillator, according to Ottawa Fire Services.

“I was assessing him and as I was assessing him his eyes rolled back and he went purple, so I started CPR,” said firefighter Pat Aubry.

CPR and one shock from the defibrillator were delivered, and paramedics said the man’s pulse was back when they arrived.

“We set it up on him and the machine did what it was supposed to do,” Aubry said.

He was taken to hospital conscious and is in stable condition.

Aubry, who looked after the patient’s children while their mother was at the hospital, said he’s done CPR plenty of times on the job.

Still, he insists the accolades aren’t his alone.

“(People say) ‘Thanks a lot Pat, you’re the guy that saved him,’” he said. “I said no, it was a team effort, everybody helped.”

On Nov. 1, 66-year-old Henderson County Senior League Softball player Bill Curtis suffered a sudden cardiac arrest and died … four times.

Bill Curtis the Survivor with Tom Hendley and Ed Neace the Saviours

Thanks to the quick response of his fellow players, Tom Hendley and Ed Neace, and the fact that the league recently purchased a defibrillator to take to its games, Curtis is alive and well and able to tell his story.

“I remember reaching second base. After that, the next thing I remember was waking up in the hospital four days later,” said Curtis, who prior to the event had never had any health problems and had never been hospitalized.

Bill’s wife, Nancy, was at his bedside when he awoke.

“The first thing he said when he woke up was that he remembered hitting the ball hard over Ed’s head in the outfield and how mad Ed was,” Nancy Curtis said.

After Bill Curtis hit his double, the next batter hit a ball to the outfield to Neace.

“There were two outs, so Bill was running from second to third. Then he took off for home, hoping I’d miss the ball,” Neace, 63, said. “I caught it. I was coming in from the outfield when I saw it happen.”

Neace said Bill Curtis stumbled a little and then went head first into the fence.

“I didn’t realize it at the time. I was running back to the dugout from the field, then I saw someone lying down on the ground. I said, ‘Who’s down? Who’s down?’ Then I saw it was Bill. I rushed over to him and Tom was already there,” Neace said. “He said, ‘Call 911. He’s not responding.”

Just a few weeks before Bill Curtis’ cardiac arrest, several of the Henderson County Senior League softballers had participated in a CPR training class conducted by Dan Hayes of the EMS. Hendley, the Senior League’s president, had suggested the class for his fellow players and also suggested that they purchase a defibrillator to have at all their games.

“We had the training about 4-5 weeks earlier, and praise the Lord we had that training,” Neace said.

Hendley, 66, a retired police officer from New Jersey, was the first to see Bill Curtis go down.

“I went to him and turned him over, and he had a gash on his head where he had hit the fence,” Hendley said. “So I didn’t know if he had just tripped and hit the fence and that was his problem or if the problem had happened before that. When I saw that he was unresponsive, I knew the problem happened before he hit the fence.”

Without hesitation, Hendley and Neace put their training into action.

“So then I opened up his airway and tried to help him to breathe, and then I saw his eyes roll back, I knew we had lost him,” Hendley said.

Hendley immediately got the defibrillator and hooked Bill Curtis to it.

“The machine takes a few seconds to analyze, and it will tell you whether or not a shock is needed. When I hooked Bill up to it, it said ‘shock advised,’ so we shocked him. His body went clean off the ground, and we all stood back,” Hendley said. “It’s quite a jolt.”

“It’s a good thing I didn’t remember that,” Bill Curtis laughed.

After Hendley felt a faint pulse from the shock of the defribillator, he was trying to get Bill Curtis to breathe while Neace did chest compressions.

“We were both focused and working so feverishly to help Bill that we didn’t even notice the EMS guys arrive,” Hendley said.

“I was doing the chest compressions when I got tapped on the shoulder. It was the EMS guy, and I kept working and said, ‘Hang on, I’m still working on him.’ After the EMS guy took over, I had a sigh of relief,” Neace said.

“We were so into what we were doing, we didn’t know how much time had passed,” Hendley said.

“I know it wasn’t long before the EMS guys were there, but from the time he went down to the time they arrived, it seemed like an eternity. Everything was like in slow motion,” Neace said.

When EMS did take over CPR, Bill Curtis went into cardiac arrest again.

“The EMS guys got there and worked on him and then had to shock him again,” Hendley said. “Then they got him on the ambulance and took him to Pardee (Hospital).”

Bill Curtis’ nightmare wasn’t over yet. His heart stopped twice more in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

“They said he died four times … twice on the field and twice in the ambulance,” Neace said.

“That means he has five lives left,” Nancy Curtis said.

Once he was revived and doctors performed tests on him in the ICU, there was great news.

“The doctors said there was no heart or brain damage,” Neace said.

“The doctors said they were expecting to find some kind of blockage in the arteries and they were fully expecting to have to do heart surgery. They found nothing. They said I had a healthy heart, and they still have no clue why it stopped that day,” Bill Curtis said.

There were no warning signs for Bill Curtis, and on his official discharge papers from the hospital, the diagnosis was “sudden cardiac death.”

“They say there’s only like a 6 percent chance of surviving that,” Bill Curtis said.

Nancy Curtis remembers the call and was preparing for the worst when she made her way to Jackson Park that day.

“What’s strange is that Bill and I had talked just the night before about what would we do if something happened to one of us. We’ve been together 45 years, and being together with someone that long, I truly believe you get a sixth sense about someone. It was like we knew something was about to happen,” she said.

Bill Curtis is getting used to his new lifestyle after the event. Now, he has a device that will shock his heart, along with a pacemaker to regulate it, if cardiac arrest happens again.

One thing he’s having a hard time adjusting to is the fact that he can’t drive.

“I guess the law is that if you die, you aren’t allowed to drive for six months,” Nancy Curtis said.

But he will be allowed to get back on the field in just six weeks.

“That’s incredible when you think about it and when you witnessed what we did that day,” Neace said. “But if you knew what kind of a person Bill is, it wouldn’t really surprise you. He runs three miles a day, and he’s in better shape than most anyone on that field. He was the last person in the world I thought that would happen to.”

Bill Curtis has already been back to the field, cheering on his fellow players, but he’s itching to get the bat in his hands once again.

“He’s a great player, and we can’t wait to get him back,” Hendley said.

And Bill’s wife isn’t about to hold him back from the sport he loves.

“I truly believe that if Bill would’ve been home with me that day, and I live just a quarter-mile from Mission Hospital, he would be dead or brain damaged. It would’ve taken too long for trained help to arrive,” she said.

“For women worried about their men playing softball, let me say this: There is no safer place for your man to be than at Jackson Park on any Tuesday or Friday if it doesn’t rain or snow.”