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The violence-prevention educator with the nonprofit Community for New Direction was working with students at Ohio Avenue Elementary School on the city’s East Side. Then her heart stopped.

Robbin Goods the Survivor and Tamara Harris the Saviour

“They said I was laughing, and I sort of just keeled over,” Goods said recently.

She was told that a nurse grabbed the school’s automatic external defibrillator — a device that delivers an electrical shock to stabilize heart rhythm — and attached it to Goods’ chest.

“After it shocked me the first time, I sort of came to,” she said.

Goods, 35, was taken to Grant Medical Center and was kept under observation for a week. She said doctors weren’t sure why she went into cardiac arrest but told her the school’s defibrillator kept her alive.

In Upper Arlington, where dozens of the devices have been placed in schools and city buildings, training is now part of monthly CPR classes.

“Most communities could probably benefit from it,” said Chris Moore, the training and EMS lieutenant for the Upper Arlington Fire Department.

Sayre compares the defibrillators to fire extinguishers and said the value of the equipment is appreciated only when something bad happens.

“The number (of AEDs) is increasing, but it’s still far too low,” he said.

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A couple of parents milled about in the hallways. Teachers were shutting down their classrooms. And Rhonda Smith, who came to the school that September evening to recruit Cub Scouts to her troop, was packing up materials.

Then Smith collapsed.

Two friends — J.R. and Tracy Hatfield — realized Smith, a 47-year-old mother of three, had experienced a heart attack. They began CPR and called the school’s staff into action.

“We did what my registered nurse trained us to do,” principal Tracy Graziaplene recalled.

They grabbed the school’s automatic external defibrillator, made sure someone had contacted 911, and got to work.

“That wonderful machine started talking to us,” Graziaplene said, referring to the AED’s robotic instructions. “It has everything there.”

Northwest was the first elementary school in Pasco County to get a defibrillator, about a year earlier. Last fall it became the first Pasco school to record a “save” using one.

“People were on campus ready to respond,” district nursing supervisor Lisa Kern said. “It was a wonderful thing.”

After four months of recovery, Smith visited the School Board on Tuesday to offer her thanks.

“Without that machine in the school, I wouldn’t have even been alive to get into the ambulance,” Smith, who “coded” at least seven times on the way to the hospital, said after the meeting. “I’m grateful for the taxpayers paying their taxes … to keep (the defibrillators) up to do the job. I’m so grateful for everyone.”

Smith, who now has an internal defibrillator, says the district expense is worth it if it saves another life.

“You’ve got to think of the budget cuts. I deal with budget cuts with my own kids,” she said. “I know there’s people out there who don’t feel the AED’s are necessary. … But what is a life worth? It’s like love, it’s unconditional.”

Given a new lease on her life, Smith said she intends to pay it forward. By no means a wealthy woman, she plans to do so with her time and energy, working with people who have handicaps.

“I think that’s why God put me here on this earth,” she said, listing among her projects the creation of a “special needs” Girl Scout troop.

Smith also works as a personal care assistant and supports her 13-year-old daughter, Katelynn, who’s a special needs cheerleader and Special Olympics athlete. She has been spending more time with her husband, Dwight, and their sons Alvin and Matthew.

And she has a new, less stressful outlook on the world.

“I’m closer to God. I’m closer to my children. I’m closer to my husband. I’m closer to the beauty of life,” Smith said. “I’m just happy to be alive.”

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Todd Powers’ stepfather, Harvey Latimer, 86, of Ashland City had never seen his granddaughter, Anna, play in a high school game.

Sherri Manners the Saviour

“We were getting ready to take him home, but he got exhausted coming up the stairs,” Todd Powers said.

Thanks to the quick response of registered nurse Sherri Manners, who teaches at CCCHS and was working the ticket table, Latimer was set on a life-saving path.

“I got him to sit down, and said we’d get him a wheelchair to get to the car,” Manners said. “But then I said to call EMS because I didn’t like the way he looked.”

She also quickly alerted Cheatham County constable Fred Biggs, who was working the game to see if any medical personnel were available to help if needed.

“When I came back, he didn’t look good,” she said. “We got him on the floor. I couldn’t find a pulse, and he wasn’t breathing. So, I began to do CPR.”

CCCHS principal Glenna Barrow ran to get the Automated External Defibrillator (AED), which was housed in the school’s cafeteria.

“I ran so fast I could feel my knees start to give out, so I tossed the AED to (Cheatham County EMS director) James (Gupton),” Barrow said.

Manners said that once they got the AED attached to Latimer, it said to resume chest compression.

Latimer was taken to Centennial Medical Center in Nashville, where it was determined that he had the beginnings of pneumonia, as well as some issues with heart rhythm.

He had a pacemaker put in on Jan. 11 and is recuperating at Hillcrest Healthcare Center in Ashland City for two weeks.

“As scary as it was, it turned out to be a good thing because he’s in much better shape afterward,” Powers said. “The ER doctor said his blood pressure had bottomed out. It could have happened anytime. And having the AED on him helped. This was the perfect place for him to get taken care of.”

The Powers family had nothing but praise for how the situation was handled.

Barrows, who had taught both Anna and her older sister, Hannah, when they were students at Pegram Elementary School, was there to comfort Anna.

Thinking back on that day, Manners recalls how everything fell into place.

“I had just signed up earlier in the day to work the ticket table and was told they had enough people, but I decided to stick around just in case I was needed,” she said.

Powers noted that Latimer wasn’t going to come to the game.

“He felt he couldn’t sit that long because of back issues, and so I showed him I had a stadium chair,” he said. “The actions of these people saved his life.”

After everything settling down, Manners said she stepped away briefly to cry.

On Feb. 19, 2011, she performed CPR on her father.

“He was gone,” she said, adding that she lost three family members last year.

Manners teaches six classes in health science occupation, a program designed to provide an introductory overview of the basics. Instruction includes working with an AED trainer kit, which is a slightly smaller version of the actual AED used by each of Cheatham County’s public schools.

As for one of the most often overlooked instructions for those using the AED, Manners has some practical advice.

“You have to remember to turn it on,” she said.

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Richmond-Burton High School athletic trainer Julianne Stewart administered a shock to the Poplar Grove man with an automated external defibrillator – one of four the school has on premises. He had suffered a heart attack and collapsed face forward about 7:15 p.m., just before half time, school and emergency officials said.

“Julianne Stewart had the wherewithal to get the AED and … she delivered a shock to revive the gentleman,” Richmond Township Fire Protection District Chief Rick Gallas said. “By the time we got there, he was breathing and starting to talk.”

A Richmond emergency crew took the man, whose name was not released, to Centegra Hospital – McHenry.

Gallas also credited Belvidere Police Department Deputy Chief Dave Ernst, a father who was in the stands for his daughter’s basketball game, for performing CPR on the man before Stewart came over with the defibrillator.

“Dave determined that [the man] was not breathing; he was turning purple, and did CPR on him,” he said.

Richmond-Burton Principal Tom DuBois said the incident was a bit frightening, but that everyone involved responded appropriately and everyone was happy about the positive outcome.

“His son and daughter-in-law just stopped by to thank us,” DuBois said Wednesday morning. “They were on their way to the hospital to go see him. … He appears to be doing OK.”

Gallas said the quick response should greatly benefit the man’s recovery.

“It just goes to show the value of CPR and the use of an AED in the field,” said Gallas, who added that the fire department will present both Ernst and Stewart with a life safety award.

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The 16-year-old student is now recovering in the Intensive Care Unit at Kalispell Regional Medical Center after collapsing during gym class at around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.

School staff began performing CPR to save his life and then several people, including the athletic trainer and nurse, began using a defibrillator to shock the student and get him breathing.

Three Rivers EMS was on the scene within four minutes and by the time emergency responders got to the student he had a pulse and was breathing on his own.

The student was then taken by ambulance to Kalispell Regional Medical Center and placed in ICU.

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At least that’s what Hungerbuhler, 42, thought was happening.

Sam Hungerbuhler the Survivor

“I was sitting there watching the kids going to the ceiling, but at the same time I was like ‘Why are the kids going to the ceiling?’”

That was Hungerbuhler, 5-foot-5-inches tall and 160 pounds, passing out from a heart attack.

Hungerbuhler, a respiratory therapist at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Scottish Rite, was in luck.

His wife, Trish, is a nurse at Children’s and knew that Queen of Angels is equipped with an automated external defibrillator (AED) machine that tells users how many shocks are needed while medics are dispatched.

The game stopped, and game attendees stood around the edge of the basketball court saying prayers.

Another nurse helped with CPR — Cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

“She was doing the compressions and my wife was doing the mouth-to-mouth,” Hungerbuhler said.

The nurse’s husband, an anesthesiologist, held his jaw open.

“After the shock, the machine said keep doing the compression,” said Hungerbuhler. “The machine told them what they needed to be doing.”

Queen of Angels nurses Robin Spinner and Rae Ann Gruver were responsible for ensuring the AED batteries and pads were updated regularly.

“These roles are typical, crucial ones played by school nurses,” said Sheila Vahey, Johns Creek Cluster Nurse for Fulton County Schools. “If the AED is not properly maintained, it won’t work in an emergency when a life is on the line.”

Hungerbuhler is grateful to have had a heart attack at a school equipped with life-saving gear. Hungerbuhler’s right coronary artery had been completely blocked. He said he knew his family has a history of heart attacks, but he never thought it would happen to him.

“I never had chest pains, I was in good shape, I exercised and didn’t think it would happen to me,” he said.

All the physicians and nurses who treated him said he was “lucky.”

In the New Year, Hungerbuhler has a fresh outlook on life.

“Being more positive and encouraging other people not to put it away like I did,” he said. “Pay attention to your body, especially if you have a family history.”

His friends have listened and have gone to get checked out.

“I feel great. I guess when you’re used to living with it and it happens over time, you don’t notice it,” Hungerbuhler said. “Now I feel more awake and more aware.”

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Haynes, 15, of Natchitoches nearly died on Dec. 12 during Natchitoches Central’s freshman boys basketball game at Pineville High School. On Tuesday, a day after having a defibrillator surgically placed in his chest in New Orleans, Haynes and his mother, Clara, went home for the first time since the terrifying incident.

Calvin Haynes the Survivor

“I wasn’t at the game, but I was blessed with angels that worked with my son that got him back to life,” said Mrs. Haynes. “His heart had stopped beating for eight minutes, and he was unconscious for 30-40 minutes. Some people say he is lucky to be alive. He wasn’t lucky, he was blessed.”

Haynes, a small forward, wasn’t a starter in the contest, but he remembers being sent into the game in the second quarter.

“I don’t remember going down,” he said. “I remember scoring a basket and going back (down court) to play defense. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in the hospital.”

Micah Coleman, in his sixth year as the varsity boys’ basketball coach at Natchitoches Central, was watching from the sideline while freshman coach Kolton Sepulvado’s Chiefs played the Rebel freshmen. As Coleman was visiting with Pineville varsity boys’ basketball coach Corey Simon, Haynes made a nice move to the goal for a layup off the glass.

“I was talking with Corey about Calvin after he caught Corey’s eye with that score,” Coleman said, “and pointing at him as he was running down floor and then collapsed. You see kids fall all the time in basketball, but you could tell there was something different about the way he fell. To say it scared me would be an understatement. I was terrified.”

“It was a dead sound,” said Gage Trahan, a certified athletic trainer and Pineville teacher who was on duty at the game and administered to Haynes on the court. “Initially, it looked as though he was having a seizure. He was very rigid and shaking.”

Donna Lemoine, a nurse from Rapides Regional Medical Center who happened to be at the game because her daughter was scheduled to play in a freshman girls basketball game after the boys contest, soon joined Trahan on the court to help.

Despite the appearances, Haynes wasn’t having a seizure, Lemoine said, noting he wasn’t breathing and didn’t have a pulse.

“We did several minutes of CPR,” said Lemoine, a former paramedic and emergency room nurse who taught CPR for 20 years and now is director of the trauma department at Rapides Regional. “At one point, it seemed he started breathing again, but it was not a good pulse.”

Trahan got Simon to call an ambulance and the Pineville Fire Department, and he hustled to get an automated external defibrillator (AED) that was by the school cafeteria near the gym.

“That’s what the patient needed,” said Lemoine, who had also been doing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on Haynes. “Gage turned it on and started analyzing the heart rhythm, and it advised he needed to be shocked. We shocked the patient and started doing CPR again.”

By the time the ambulance and Pineville firefighters arrived, Haynes was stable enough to be transported to the emergency room.

“When I got to the hospital, Calvin was conscious and recognized my voice,” said Mrs. Haynes, who arrived at the ER about 15 minutes after her son. “He was in and out (of consciousness).”

Haynes eventually was taken to the intensive care unit.

“I felt drowsy and didn’t know what was going on,” he said. “The only thing that kept me calm was hearing my mom and my coach telling me everything was OK.”

“I’ve prayed pretty hard in my lifetime, but never with quite the same energy than when I was on the way to the hospital,” said the 34-year-old Coleman. “Once I heard his voice, that was the best definition of relief I’ve ever experienced. His words were kind of slow and slurred, but I didn’t care as long as he was talking.

“To see someone go from being a happy-go-lucky 15-year-old to someone hanging on for life, that’s how fragile life can be,” Coleman went on. “We prayed several times and told him we were praying for him and that, no matter what, it was going to be OK. We told him we weren’t going anywhere and he was not alone.”

“Thanks to Gage and Donna Lemoine,” said Pineville Principal Karl Carpenter, “we have a 15-year-old male who will celebrate Christmas with his family as opposed to being in a tragic situation.”

Haynes was sent last week from Rapides to Children’s Hospital in New Orleans for tests.

“They did several tests, but didn’t find anything wrong,” said Mrs. Haynes, whose husband, Calvin Sr., a former Alcorn State offensive lineman and Mississippi junior high basketball coach, died in 1997 at age 45 of a heart attack.

“They put a defibrillator in Monday to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Mrs. Haynes continued, “and since everything went well with that, we can go home.”

Mrs. Haynes said because of her husband’s death, she sent her son to a doctor for a physical last August, noting he was “cleared to play football and all sports.”

Coleman said he didn’t leave Haynes’ side the night he suffered from cardiac arrhythmia until both his mother and the doctor told him he would be OK, after which he returned home to Natchitoches and “promptly hugged my kids.”

“The next morning,” Coleman said, “he called me and said, ‘Coach, I wanted to check on you, are you OK?’ That’s the kind of kid he is. With all that he’d been through, he was calling to check on me. I kind of laughed and said, ‘Yeah, Calvin, I’m OK as long as you’re OK.’”

“I just feel blessed,” said Haynes. “I’m thankful there were people at the game who knew CPR and could help me. I’m happy that their school had (an AED) that shocked my heart. If they hadn’t, no telling what would’ve happened.”

And he’s had plenty of time to think about that.

“I’ve thought about how I am lucky to live and have a second chance,” he said. “Instead of taking life for granted, I will appreciate each day from now on.”

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Keegan Shepherd and Sheldon Liikala, two juniors who saw the teen sink to the ground, immediately ran to a nearby school building, said Principal Tim Praino. They knew they would find a breakroom full of teachers.

Mike Edwards the Saviour

Two of the teachers, John Bittinger and Paul Staley, who recently trained to provide first aid and CPR, rushed outside while others called 911 and radioed for one of the new defibrillators.

Praino was sprinting to the gym to get a
defibrillator, until he heard that Edwards already was en route with the machine from his office.

Edwards recently had gone through training on the defibrillator, but didn’t feel too sure of himself when he got the radio call.

Jeremy Brewer the Survivor

“My first thought was, ‘I don’t remember what they told me in the training,’ ” Edwards told the Herald Monday.But when he got to where Bittinger and Staley were performing CPR on Jeremy, he went on auto-pilot — quite literally.

The machine told Edwards it was getting ready to shock Jeremy and to not touch the teen.” The defibrillator checked if Jeremy needed a second jolt and when it decided he didn’t, told the humans to resume CPR, even letting out beeps to show them exactly at what pace to apply pressure to the chest.

Less than two minutes had passed since Jeremy collapsed — and that’s essential to avoid lasting damage.”

In the next couple of minutes, an ambulance showed up.The medics asked if the defibrillator shocked the teen and took over. They took Jeremy to Kadlec Regional Medical Center, where doctors found his heart was beating fine, but that he was not yet breathing on his own. He was flown to Seattle Children’s Hospital and was breathing on his own by Saturday.

On Monday, Jeremy was talking but appeared confused, Praino said. Doctors have said it will take the teen a few days to form clear thoughts, but that he is expected to fully recover.They also said Jeremy was “lucky to have trained individuals working on him within minutes,” Praino said.

Bittinger and Staley forced air into his lungs. Edwards had the machine to jump start Jeremy’s heart. And two students didn’t hesitate a moment to get help.”It was a great example of teamwork,” Praino said.

Just how great became apparent to Edwards only Monday — when he saw the report doctors downloaded from the defibrillator.The graph showing Jeremy’s heart activity was an almost flat, squiggly line when Edwards first attached the pads to the teen’s chest. Ten seconds after the shock was delivered, the usual sharp spikes seen on the heart rate diagram indicated his heart had started beating again.

“I got goosebumps seeing that,” Edwards said. “I thought, ‘Man — this works.’

“When the district’s safety committee discussed buying defibrillators over the summer, nobody objected, but the general consensus was that they likely would never be needed, Gribskov said.

But before the year was out, one of the relatively inexpensive machines has saved a young man from permanent damage or even death.

“We’re certainly thankful we decided to purchase them,” Gribskov said.

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“I didn’t even have chest pains or shortness of breath,” Teale said. “I don’t remember much.”

Brad Teale (left) the Survivor

Teale didn’t die that night thanks to the efforts of 12 men, who pitched in to save his life. The Urbandale City Council honored those men with lifesaver certificates and pins that say, “I made CPR Count,” during a meeting on Tuesday night.

Teale went into sudden cardiac arrest, which is not the same thing as a heart attack, although a heart attack can cause it. His teammates didn’t care what had happened to him, they just wanted to help their teammate.

“The debate was whether it was a seizure or a heart attack,” said one of Teale’s lifesavers, Charles Greth of Clive. “I didn’t care what it was, I was determined to wake him up.”

Greth was one of a dozen men playing basketball that night that had a role in reviving Teale. A few started CPR, one called 911, some tried to locate his family and another located the defibrillator at the school and used it on Teale.

Greth’s children attend Walnut Hills Elementary, which is why he knew there was an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) somewhere in the building.

“I remember seeing it somewhere in the building, I just had to run to the place I thought it was and grab it,” Greth said.

Sudden cardiac arrest means “the heart stops,” said Fire Chief Jerry Holt. “There’s a disturbance in the electrical activity and the heart’s no longer rhythmically beating.”

The crew of men said the defibrillator had “dummy-proof” instructions on it. They set it up and waited for the machine to check his heart rate. After the machine confirmed he didn’t have a heart rate, it indicated they should stand back and wait for the shock. Teale was resuscitated after a few shocks and ready for the emergency crew when the arrived 10 minutes later.

“These guys deserve all the credit for basically bringing my back to life,” Teale said in front of the council and guests. “The AED said I had no heartbeat, so they literally brought me back to life. A lot of people nowadays are afraid to jump in and do anything but they got right to it.”

Teale had one basketball buddy trained in CPR, Stewart Card of Des Moines who is a physical education teacher. Overall, he had a group of concerned friends determined to save his life.

“I wouldn’t have anyone to guard,” said Card of why he performed CPR to save his friend’s life.

The group has been playing basketball together for nearly 20 years in a casual game. Troy Bothwell of West Des Moines rents the gym each year to play with his usual group of friends.

“When we have these cases we like to spotlight them,” said Holt. “Especially since it’s few and far between that outcome in these kinds of cases are so good.”

He praised the men for taking action instead of merely calling 911, which might have been too late for Teale.

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Suddenly, while his Grade 9 students practiced CPR on “dummies” in the gym next door, King joined McConnell in a life-or-death first-aid drill. In the precious minutes that followed, they used a real defibrillator and CPR to restore the teen’s pulse before emergency crews arrived.

Today the 17-year-old is recovering, although he does not want his name made public.

“The timing was ironic, because I had just been telling my students how important it is to know CPR, especially with the holidays coming up when they visit with elderly relatives,” King said.

McConnell knows first aid from her days as a lifeguard, and began delivering CPR and mouth-to-mouth as shocked students watched. She had been teaching at the Etobicoke school less than two weeks, yet ironically, one of the first classes she had taught was in CPR.

“It’s amazing because the defibrillator tells you exactly what to do, including what rhythm to use when you compress the chest and when to give air,” McConnell said.

Toronto’s Emergency Medical Services has nominated both teachers as well as hall monitor Linda Armstrong and vice-principal Tim Brethour for EMS Citizens’ awards for quick thinking in fetching the defibrillator, calling 911 and delaying the bell between classes so emergency crews could wheel out the stretcher without having to battle crowds.

“In cardiac arrest, seconds count,” noted EMS acting superintendent Shawn Murphy in a letter of praise to school officials. “Had it not been for the rapid and skilled actions of the staff, the outcome would not have been as positive.”