First Aid Corps

Drew Brantley, 17, a school soccer and baseball star, was playing basketball with classmates last week when he collapsed and appeared to have a seizure.

Drew Brantley the Survivor

But nurse Brenda Strunk said she quickly realized it was much more severe.

“When we got to him, we were trying to find pulse on him. We couldn’t find a pulse,” she said.

Strunk grabbed an Automated External Defibrillator located outside the school’s gym and used it to bring the boy back from full cardiac arrest.

Brantley spent five days in Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, where doctors said he had a heart condition that had gone undetected.

Now he is back home and thanking the people, and the machine, that helped save his life.

“I couldn’t tell you where one of (the AEDs) is in the school, although I guess I will now,” he said. “I’m just so happy that everybody knew how to use it, and everybody got there on time.”

“Only because of that device and the people at school is our son still alive” said Ron Brantley. “Make sure you get them. Even if you don’t have to use them, it’s a security blanket.”

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.”

About 8:15 a.m. on 4th February, moments after talking with Homestead High School senior Abishek Chintapalli, biology teacher Bekki Vail heard him fall to the floor.

Abishek Chintapalli the Survivor

She ran to see what had happened and found him unconscious, but making irregular gasps for air, known as agonal breathing.

Two students rushed to the clinic and alerted school nurse Maria Lund, who ran to the room and started giving Chintapalli chest compressions in front of a crowd of students.

Time seemed to slip away as Lund kept pushing, unable to get Chintapalli to begin breathing.

“I could see his color was getting bad,” Lund said.

Nurse Beth Quigley was the second responder to arrive. She worked with Lund, giving Chintapalli mouth-to-mouth to no avail.

Vail called 911, and Lund radioed for an automated external defibrillator.

A custodian heard the call, grabbed the device near the clinic and ran upstairs to give it to Lund.

By that time, Assistant Principal Steve Lake had arrived on the scene. He never had felt so helpless, he said, as he watched Lund put the defibrillator on Chintapalli’s chest.

Chintapalli’s heart wasn’t beating, and the defibrillator gave directions to shock. Lund did so, twice, establishing a heartbeat.

More staff members arrived to help carry Chintapalli down the stairs; others contacted his mother.

By the time an ambulance pulled away, at least 20 Southwest Allen County Schools employees had played some role in the emergency response.

“You were there when Chintapalli needed him, and you did everything in a very timely manner,” Chintapalli’s mother, Lakshmi said. “Abi is alive because of you.”

Chintapalli said he was touched by the support he received in the hospital and was happy to be back in school.

“I lost 8 to 10 pounds when I was in the hospital,” he said. “But I think I gained it all back yesterday. We had lots of parties, lots of food.”

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.

Keith Folkard, 50, a insurance underwriter, who was sitting in the Jarrold stand, was taken ill just minutes after kick-off of the match against Brentford.

But two GPs and Simon Bowles, a cardiology specialist nurse from the N&N, were sitting nearby and rushed to his aid.

They carried out life support and used one of Carrow Road’s automated electronic defibrillators, before an ambulance crew took Mr Folkard to hospital.

Mr Folkard said: “I’m extremely grateful for what they did and for all the care I have received in hospital since. I feel very humbled.”

The patient’s brother, Brian, from Upper Stoke, near Poringland, was also at the game, and both are season ticketholders, although Keith now lives near Southend.

Brian said: “Without the help he received at the ground I think we would have been attending his funeral. I cannot fault those guys at all.”

Emergency medical workers were called to Alumni Soccer Field at Davidson College Saturday afternoon around 2:30 p.m. after a report that a youth-soccer official had collapsed during a game.

Davidson Fire Chief Jeff Almond said the man apparently had a heart attack and was not breathing.

As emergency personnel arrived, a doctor and a nurse who were attending the game were performing CPR on the man.

Emergency workers took over, continuing CPR.

They administered a shock using an automated defibrillator, and his heart returned to a normal rhythm, the chief said.

The man was taken by ambulance to Presbyterian Hospital in Huntersville, where he was treated briefly. He was then taken on to Presbyterian Hospital’s main location in Charlotte for further treatment.

Beyond that, his condition was not known late Saturday afternoon.

Derek Robison, a Weymouth firefighter since 2006 and a certified emergency medical technician, 38, was watching the hockey game of his 6-year-old son, Donovan, when a man wearing hockey skates came rushing out from one of the other rinks shortly before 5 p.m. Sunday.

He was looking for a doctor.

“He said someone needed help,” Robison said.

Robison and a nurse, whose daughter plays on his son’s Weymouth Youth Hockey team, ran over to see what they could do.

“Someone said he (McCracken) had just come off the ice when he collapsed near the bench,” Robison said.

Others had gathered around retired police Lt. Joseph McCracken, 65, and were trying to help him when the unidentified nurse and Robison pitched in with their life-saving efforts.

The nurse and the firefighter used CPR to keep retired police Lt. Joseph McCracken, 65, alive with blood flowing to his heart and brain.

That’s when a pro-shop worker, Derek Benton saw what was going on, suspected the victim was suffering from a heart attack and knew the nearest defibrillator unit was across the street at the Queen Anne Nursing home. “I just bolted out the door, “said Benton. “I knew he needed the de-fib unit.”

“I put one pad on one side of his chest,” said Duxbury firefighter Jim Kittredge,” and Sharon Demio put the other pad near his heart.”

A Hingham Fire Department ambulance arrived minutes later to take McCracken to South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, where he was listed in good condition Tuesday.

Hoby Taylor, Pilgrim’s president, said McCracken has been renting ice time for men’s hockey games for many years.

“He’s a very, very nice man,” Taylor said. “It’s very rare that something like this happens.”

“I can’t say thank you enough to the people who helped my father,” said Lisa McCracken, the daughter of Joe McCracken, who had a heart attack while playing hockey over the weekend.

“We did what we were trained to do,” Robison 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.

Gordon Crozier of North River went into cardiac arrest during the second period of his grandson’s Atom ‘A’ hockey game at the APM Centre.

Steve Stapleton the Saviour

Three spectators at the game quickly scooted into action.

Steve Stapleton, 59, of Charlottetown was among the impromptu trio that came to Crozier’s aid.

Trained in CPR (he had his most recent refresher course just last year), Stapleton started performing CPR after Crozier “started turning blue” and a pulse could not be found.

Stapleton did chest compressions on Crozier, a long-time friend, as another man blew air into Crozier’s lungs.

One of those who sprang to help Crozier was cameraman Steve Stepleton of CBC Charlottetown.

While Stapleton performed CPR for “what seemed likes hours” but in reality was more like five minutes, a woman named Rizpah MacPhee ran to get the rink’s defibrillator.

‘”We gave Gordon one jolt and he came around,” Stapleton said. “Then we kept administering the CPR, monitoring his breathing and watching for a pulse, and we just did that, with help from the others, until the EMS arrived and took him to hospital.”

“I don’t know if the ambulance could have got here fast enough for the person to survive, but the defibrillator did its job,” Donna Butler, APM Centre manager, said Monday.

Crozier was rushed to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Wade Crozier later reported that his father was resting comfortably at the QEH. Wade offered “many thanks to all who helped out as without your help and the defibrillator at the rink, this would be a very different message.”

Stapleton, a soft-spoken and humble man, wasn’t too eager to be pegged as a hero.

“It wasn’t just me,” he said of the quick response to a life-threatening situation. I was just a part of it. And thank God Gordon is still alive. I have known Gordon for years.”

Steve Stapleton believes everybody should have CPR training.

“You hope you never have to use it but at least if something happens, you know how to use it and it could save somebody’s life,” he said.

“I remember I had grilled us some burgers and had been whining to Tom about going swimming with me and the grandchildren at the Bricelyn pool,” says Shery Lamont, a nurse. “At first, he wasn’t going to go, but then he changed his mind.”

Tom Lamont (right) the Survivor

Sheryl says she told her three grandchildren to get their suits on while she finished doing the dishes. Then she got suited-up as well.

Meanwhile, waiting for everyone to get ready, Tom sat on the love seat.

“While I was in the kitchen, I heard gasping, snoring, loud respiration sounds similar to what our dog makes when it’s sleeping,” says Sheryl. “So I went to check things out and found Tom lying on the love seat.”

At first, when Tom didn’t respond to her, Sheryl says she thought he was just kidding her, trying to get out of the swimming trip. Then, looking at him more closely, she knew something more serious was happening to her husband.

“Tom was lying on the love seat,” she recalls. “His eyes were fixed. He was non-responsive and yellowish in color. I knew we were in trouble!”

“I started yelling at him,” recalls Sheryl, “don’t you leave me!”

She then called ‘911.’

“I told them to put a step on it,” she says. “I also told them I was going to start giving him CPR.”

It was at this point, she pulled her husband off the love seat to the floor and began CPR.

Still unresponsive, Tom turned a plum color as she was performing CPR on him. At this same time, the three grandchildren stepped into the room and saw her working on their grandfather.

Doug Besendorf and Heather Anderson, Frost Ambulance EMTs were the first on the scene and came running into the house.

“Before using the defibrillator, I wanted Sheryl to be totally off Tom and the couch away from them so no one would be zapped by the electrical shock,” recalls Heather.

Heather says she kicked the love seat aside, then ripped Tom’s shirt off before hooking the defibrillator to him.

Letting the machine talk and guide her through the process, Heather applied the paddles to Tom’s chest and shocked him once.

“Within the first five minutes,” says Sheryl, “Heather had Tom’s heart stopped and restarted by using the defibrillator. Then Randy (Benji) Anderson, another Frost Ambulance EMT continued the compressions on Tom.”

Tom was then back-boarded and loaded into the ambulance by the Frost EMTs.

He had a pulse when they left the house and was breathing on his own and moaning while en route to Blue Earth’s United Hospital District.

During his 10-day stay in Rochester, Tom underwent double by-pass surgery and had an ICD or internal cardiac defibrillator inserted into his chest.

Looking back on the day, Tom has no recollection of the incident, of his ambulance ride or of the air vac. All he remembers is sitting on the love seat in his home and the next thing he recalls is seeing his brother, David, and other family members at his hospital bedside.

“Just in seconds your life can change,” says a still disbelieving Sheryl of the day’s events. “From feeling helpless in a seemingly empty town, in just a few minutes my yard was full of people.”

“I’m just glad to be married to a nurse,” jokes Tom as he hears the story once again of his near-death experience.

Looking at her husband with a smile, Sheryl says, “you owe me a CPR.”