First Aid Corps

Allan Robertson would almost certainly be dead today had he’d suffered his sudden cardiac arrest somewhere else.

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The 57-year-old St. Albert father of three collapsed at a pickup soccer game Nov. 14 in the Edmonton Soccer Centre South. His heart stopped, cutting off the blood’s supply of oxygen and nutrients to his brain. At a time when his risk of brain damage and death climbed by the second, there was an automated external defibrillator (AED) nearby and one of Robertson’s teammates was an off-duty emergency medical technician who knew how to use it.

“I remember warming up and joking with one of my buddies, ‘Gee, look at us. We’re the oldest two here,’ ” Robertson said Friday at a news conference on the field where it happened.

“The next thing I know, I wake up in the hospital.”

Matt Austin, 37, was in net at the other end of the indoor field when he saw Robertson lying face-down on the ground.

“Since I didn’t see the play, I guess I assumed initially it was a head injury,” said the Edmonton man, who has been an EMT for three years and works in Camrose.

Matt Austin the Saviour and Allan Robertson the Survivor

Austin quickly realized Robertson wasn’t breathing. He started cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and told teammates to call 911 and get the defibrillator the soccer centre keeps near the front door.

“I attached it right away and gave him his first shock after it advised me to do that,” Austin said. “I didn’t feel any pulse or breathing or anything like that again, so I started compressions, did a couple rounds of that, and he took two breaths and his eyes opened for a second.”

After two more rounds of CPR, Robertson gasped for air and opened his eyes. “Within 30 seconds of that, he was actually trying to get off the turf here. He was trying to get up. I said, ‘No, Al, you’ve got to stay down. Stay where you’re at. The ambulance is on its way.’ ”

Approximately four minutes passed between the time Robertson collapsed and when Austin revived him and he tried to get up. The ambulance arrived a few minutes after that, Austin said.

“The brain doesn’t go very long without oxygen. Three to five minutes, they say, is the average, so without early intervention with either CPR or AED or, ideally, both, the possibility of recovery is a lot less.”

Austin said his training took over during the dramatic events. “CPR, I’ve done many times but I’ve never had positive results out of it. By the time an ambulance gets there, if CPR hasn’t been initiated, we’re outside that three- to five-minute window just about always. If CPR hadn’t been started by the so-called bystander, the results would have been a lot worse.”

Robertson was taken to the Grey Nuns Hospital where he had surgery to implant a defibrillator that keeps his heart pumping properly.

Doctors told him the cardiac arrest was caused by a heart abnormality called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which Robertson might have inherited. Robertson doesn’t know yet if he’ll be able to play soccer again, something he’s done twice a week for the past 20 years.

He had no indication of heart trouble before the cardiac arrest.

“I’m just so thankful to be here with everyone and I’m so thankful to Matt,” Robertson said. “Fortunately, Matt was here that day.”

Roberson is convinced he would have died had his cardiac arrest happened during another soccer game he plays every week.

“I play soccer with another group as well, on Friday night, and if this had happened at that venue, they don’t have a defibrillator there. I asked the guys after I visited there, ‘Does anybody know CPR?’ and of the guys that were there, not one knew CPR.”

Robertson’s wife, Karen, said her husband had “a real guardian angel with him that day.” The incident has helped the Robertsons focus on what’s really important in life, such as friends and family, she said.

Austin said he is grateful he could make such a difference to the lives of so many people who love Robertson, including Robertson’s wife and three adult kids.

“It’s a little overwhelming,” Austin said. “It’s an incredible feeling. It’s the most important thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

You wish you never have to use it, but if you do you’re glad it’s there.

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That was the case at the Nov. 11 when the quick work of emergency personnel and effective use of a public access defibrillator saved the life of an Orleans man at the Smiths Falls Memorial Community Centre.

Joe McGrath was there to watch his grandson Connor play a Central Canada Hockey League game for the hometown Bears against the visiting Cumberland Grads. Towards the end of the first period, the gentleman passed out after his heart stopped as a result of cardiac arrhythmia.

Almost immediately, volunteer firefighter Paul Bisonette left his spot at the rink and came to his aid. He administered CPR while awaiting the arrival of the defibrillator that was on site at the rink.

Equipment manager Tom Arnold knew exactly where it was located and left the players bench to retrieve the vital equipment and rush it to the scene.

By then, Bears’ trainer Dale McCabe, a Lanark County paramedic, was also on hand and ready to place the pads and administer the initial shock to get the heart beating again.

Within seconds after resuming CPR, the gentleman’s breathing returned and he was even able to utter some words to those around him.

Having returned to life, emergency personnel were able to transport Mr. McGrath across the road to the Smiths Falls hospital before he was transferred to the University of Ottawa Heart Institute in Ottawa.

Some might call it a miracle. That so many capable individuals would be on site and be ready to take action to save this person’s life is truly remarkable. There are no words, Mr. McGrath says, to describe the thanks he has for all of them.

When it comes to saving lives, there’s no such thing as “off-duty.”

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Paramedic Bruce Binda saved his teammate’s life when the man suffered a heart attack while playing hockey at a local arena around 11 a.m. Saturday.

“He collapsed on his hands and knees,” said Binda, who has been an emergency worker for 21 years but wasn’t on duty Saturday. “I thought he was injured.”

Still on the ice, Binda immediately began CPR and used the public Automated External Defibrillator, shocking the 41-year-old man three times.

Binda’s colleagues arrived and took over, transporting the man to hospital, where he’s conscious and speaking.

Paramedic Supt. Steven Leu said Binda is “one of the guys who, ironically, took the day off.”

The men were playing a regular-season game, said Binda, adding his friend of 10 years is married with two children.

“I’m pretty happy with the result,” said Binda.

William Kendhammer was sipping a cold beer Saturday at the Maple Leaf Parade, chatting with a friend. The next thing he remembers, he was staring up at emergency personnel as they fought to save his life.

“He was essentially dead,” said Dr. Kristof Gehrke, a physician in Mayo Clinic Health System’s intensive care unit.

Kendhammer, a 34-year-old father of two, had gone into sudden cardiac arrest.

Luckily, a pair of Tri-State Ambulance bicycle paramedics had an automated external defibrillator. It’s what saved his life, Gehrke said.

Kendhammer and his wife, Kathy, 32, were at the corner of State and Second streets with about two dozen friends for their annual parade tradition of grilling out and drinking beer. Mid-conversation, his wife saw Kendhammer fall backward into the crowd.

“I tried smacking him in the face and told him to wake up,” she said.

Kendhammer’s cousin called 911, and a friend started CPR. Two paramedics on bicycles arrived about a minute later, along with the La Crosse Fire Department. The AED brought Kendhammer back, said Tri-State Ambulance Supervisor Nick Eastman. He arrived at the hospital 10 minutes later, alert and talking.

Each squad car at the La Crosse city police and county sheriff’s departments has an AED, as well as each emergency vehicle at the La Crosse Fire Department. Tri-State carries similar machines in each ambulance, and both bike teams have an AED.

It’s critical in saving lives, Eastman said. Without early CPR or an AED, survival chances go down 10 percent every minute.

Kendhammer never expected he’d suffer a cardiac arrest. Looking back, he had some signs, like chest pains in the weeks beforehand. He thought nothing of it.

“You don’t expect this at 30-something,” he said. “You figure you don’t have to worry until your 50s or 60s. It was an eye-opener.”

On Tuesday morning, the La Crosse resident had a small defibrillator placed next to his heart. It’ll kick in if he has another cardiac arrest.

He says he’s learned to appreciate what he has. “You’re not going to be here forever.”

Still, he’s trying to add a little humor to the situation with next year’s Oktoberfest shirts for his group of friends. Kendhammer get’s to pick out what they say.

Perhaps “Shocktoberfest” or “A heart-stopping good time.”

“We’ll come up with something good,” he said.

Republican Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) may have saved a life Tuesday morning by performing CPR on a man who collapsed in a Charlotte, N.C., airport.

Phil Roe the Saviour

Roe, who was a practicing OB/GYN before he was elected to Congress, was walking through the airport with fellow Congressman Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) when someone cried out about a man who had collapsed.

Roe immediately rushed over and began performing CPR in an attempt to save the man’s life. By the time Roe reached him, the man did not have a heartbeat.

The congressman “brought the man back to life — he was dead. The AED [automatic external defibrillator] machine showed that he was flat-lining,” Roe’s press secretary, Amanda Little, told POLITICO.

CPR was not successful in resuscitating the man, so when emergency medical technicians arrived shortly after, Roe assisted them with the emergency defibrillator, which shocked the man back to life, added Little.

The man who collapsed is currently in stable condition, according to Roe’s office. “We checked in this morning, and last we heard this morning, the man was going to be OK,” said Little.

Roe’s quick actions very likely saved the man’s life, said Mulvaney, who was present at the scene the whole time. “This guy is alive because of Phil Roe and a couple other very important people at the airport,” Mulvaney told the DC.

For his part, Roe was humble and commended local emergency officials. “I really want to praise the police officers there and the EMTs,” he told the DC. “They did a great job. I’m just glad I’m around and able to help.”

Roe said that this morning’s incident was his first time using a portable defibrillator.