First Aid Corps

18-year-old senior Jake Bryan collapsed on January 13th while giving an English presentation.

Students, teachers, and nurses quickly came to Jake’s aid.

“He was not one who typically had seizures, so at that point, we knew that it was an emergency, and I called 9-1-1 and nurse Nancy started monitoring him,” said Bonnie Davis, registered nurse.

Nurse Nancy Bocchino described the scene.

“Lying face down, blood around his head, in the middle of a seizure,” she said.

While the nurses performed CPR on Jake, a teacher ran upstairs to get a defibrillator.

“It was a horrible day, because he was dead on us, he was dead,” added Bocchino.

An automated external defibrillator or AED was used to jumpstart Jake’s heart.

“It was like a gasp, and we looked up, and the firefighters and EMT’s were there. They stepped in at that point,” Bocchino said.

Jake was then taken to Huntsville Hospital’s Heart Center where Doctors performed a series of tests.

“It showed a type of abnormality that people have, who have an inherited problem, that can lead to sudden death,” said Dr. Jay Dinerman, cardiologist.

It’s an abnormality known in the medical world as Long QT syndrome, and it’s an inherited defect that will change part of Jake’s life forever.

From here on out, he’ll have to wear his own defibrillator.

With the exception of contact sports, Jake can now live a pretty normal life.

“He’s a great kid, he’s very up-beat, optimistic. I think he took this the way you would really want to see people take it. He realized it was something that happened to him, something he was born with, nothing he could do much about. He’s just moving on.”

Moving on, but with a new outlook on life.

“Are you thankful for your life,” asked WAFF 48 News.

“Yeah I am, it just opened up more opportunities since I’ve had this heart attack. I feel blessed,” Jake said.

“I’ve already told them, but I’d like to say thank you again, I love all of you, you’re the reason why I’m here,” he added about those who helped him.

Jake has now graduated. He wants to go to Embry Riddle to become a pilot.

On May 3, 62-year-old Bucks County school coach John Gleeson was throwing batting practice in the left-field batting cage.

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Standing about 45 feet from the batter, shielded by an L-shaped screen commonly used by teams, Gleeson was pitching to Jake Skolnick – “our hardest hitter,” co-coach Vince Campellone said.

John Gleeson the Survivor

Campellone then heard the clang of a line drive hitting a bar of the screen.

Turning toward the cage, Campellone saw Gleeson facedown on the ground, his body twitching.

Campellone ran over and yelled for players to get the trainer.
Campellone rolled Gleeson onto his back, opened his mouth, and made sure he wouldn’t swallow his tongue.

Tyler Campellone, Vince’s son and a sophomore outfielder on the team who recently took a CPR course, started resuscitation.

Trainer Juana Bivins ran over from the gym behind center field, and used the defibrillator on Gleeson. A student trainer called Gleeson’s wife, Connie, who works at the school’s Children’s Center, and she arrived just in time to see a shock from the defibrillator jump-start his heart.

“It was very fortuitous the way that things fell,” John Gleeson said. “I could have been [at home] mowing the grass all by myself and had my blocked arteries kicked in, and I would have been in pretty bad shape because there would have been no one around. As it was, getting hit in the head with a line drive was almost a blessing in disguise, because it kicked off this whole series of things.”

Gleeson was rushed to the nearby St. Mary Medical Center. Five of his arteries were blocked.

Gleeson wants to return to coaching this fall for his son’s last football season, saying he has dreamed about it for a long time. If his heart exams go well, he could be ready for the mid-August start of practices. But if doctors say he needs a defibrillator implanted, he likely will miss the opening of the preseason.

As for Skolnick, the player who hit the fateful line drive, Gleeson said the senior went through the instinctual “Oh, my God, what have I done?” phase.

“But as I’ve told him and everybody has told him since,” Gleeson added, “it was a blessing in disguise, that in some ways you set off a series of events that probably will prolong my life for quite a while.”

It happened March 23rd, during the first class of the day.

Gym teacher Ken Haines said, “The class was doing a mile timed run. He was up toward the front and he was running strong, completed one lap, he was running around and right in this area right here, I saw him collapse down on all fours, seconds later he was just totally unresponsive.”

He was talking about seventh grader Travis Arnold. He radioed nursing assistant Tressa Palmer immediately, and sent students to get help.

“Two girls from the middle school came running and said that they needed me on the track, that a student was down,” said Palmer.

Two other staff members got the school’s defibrillator, or A.E.D. as she ran to the track. “I went over to Mr. Haines, he told me to try and see if I could find a pulse. I could not, Travis was still unconscious,” said Palmer.

Haines said, “She got the AED got right out here, I continued CPR while she hooked him up to the AED and shocked him and she started chest compressions and I was doing the breaths.”

His father, David Arnold remembers the call from the school secretary. “‘The word defibrillator was used’, and I said you only use a defibrillator on someone’s whose heart stopped. And she said Mr. Arnold you need to get to the hospital right now.”

What happened to the him was later called a sudden death episode. His parents say if the stars we not aligned that day, it all would be different. It seems everyone was in the right place at the right time.

A month later, Travis was back to school, and now, he’s just about back to doing all the things he used to do. “Yeah, 99 percent,” said Travis. He’s a man of few words, and thanks his favorite teacher. Dad is thankful he’s here to do it. “Like that day, I was just thankful I got to hug my son again.”

As the staff members and EMTs were honored, the gym teacher that saved his life said, “Travis, thanks for pulling through buddy, I appreciate that, and so does everyone else here”

Ironically, that gym teacher Ken Haines, collapsed in high school during a soccer game, was taken to the same hospital, and saved by a defibrillator.

Francis Howell Middle School’s seventh-grader Austin Redd, 13, collapsed to the floor at the start of class and went into cardiac arrest about 12:45 p.m., officials said.

St. Charles County Deputy Ron Neupert, 50, the school’s resource officer, raced to the gym and found Austin unconscious, not breathing and without a pulse. Neupert started CPR and radioed for an ambulance.

The school’s nurse, Lynne Finnerty, shocked Austin’s heart once with the school’s automatic external defibrillator.

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Shortly after, Austin regained consciousness.

“It seemed like forever, but within a few seconds, he began to breathe on his own and you could see he was coming around,” Neupert said.

Austin is expected to recover.

Marty Limpert, a spokesman for the St. Charles County Ambulance District, said the incident illustrates the need for AEDs in schools and staff trained in life-saving procedures.

“There’s no doubt that they saved his life,” Limpert said.

“It’s awesome,” Neupert said of Austin’s recovery. “These kids are my kids, and I care about every single one of them.”

Francis Howell Middle School Principal Amy Johnston said that Thursday was the first time the school has used its AED since it was installed about eight years ago.

And “hopefully the last,” she said.

Student trainer Daniel Vermunt, men’s rugby coach Les Gilson and Mayla Parrent, associate director of Campus Security took action on November 13 when an 18-year-old varsity rower from Niagara Falls collapsed at the rowing center at the University.

Vermunt and Gilson were waiting for a bus when they heard someone shout, “Someone is down!”

Vermunt, who holds the Lifesaving Society’s Standard First Aid and Automatic Electronic Defibrillator certifications, found that the rower was not breathing.

Vermunt called to a bystander to get the defibrillator. Gilson arrived and with Vermunt, began two-person CPR and used the defibrillator.

Parrent, also a Society Standard First Aid certificate holder helped with compressions.

The three performed CPR for 10 to 15 minutes before the young man began breathing and EMS arrived.

Vermunt and Gilson only happened to be nearby because a bus was late in picking up the rugby team and taking them to an Ontario University Athletics bronze medal game, said Gilson.

“It was a whole bunch of little things that happened to fall into place,” he said.

Kyle DuBois’ heart stopped after receiving the shock in his electrical trades class at Dover High School on March 11 and paramedics were on the scene within a minute after receiving the call and were able to use an automated external defibrillator to get DuBois’ heart going.

Rob Dubois, Kyle’s father, said that he has no doubt that South End Fire Station’s rescuers’ quick response time and actions played a vital role in helping Kyle quickly recover from nearly critical injuries.

“When we left Dover, we were expecting a much different outcome,” he said, noting Kyle’s critical condition when he was transferred by helicopter from Wentworth-Douglass Hospital to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Rob DuBois said he expects his son to return to school on April 5. He also expects Kyle to make a full recovery but noted that doctors still want him to take it easy for a little while because they still have some concerns about blood flow.

“I wish I could shake the hands of every person who supported and prayed for Kyle and my family… but I think it would be impossible,” he said. “I just can’t find the words to thank people… there’s been a lot of kind hearts.”

On Jan. 16, David Feinstein was walking out of Southwest Rec Center on the UF campus in Gainesville when he heard cries for help.

Cook, a building construction professor who has done consulting work for Pulte Homes in Volusia County, had suffered a heart attack.

He had been playing racquetball with one of his students, 24-year-old Brando Fetzek, and a couple other friends when he told them he felt winded, needed to take a break, and would catch them on the next game.

“We finished the game in about five minutes, and as I walked out I saw him laying there,” said Fetzek, a Bradenton resident. “I called out for somebody to call an ambulance and that’s when David and his buddy came running over. David started to perform CPR.”

Several other students joined in, calling 911, alerting Southwest Rec staff to the emergency and helping with the CPR.

They set up a nearby AED — automated external defibrillator — which is used to shock a non-beating heart into starting again.

“We put it on him and we shocked him and we got a pulse, but it wasn’t a very strong one,” Feinstein said. “He took a big gasp of air, but then he wasn’t breathing on his own, so we kept doing CPR.”

Paramedics transported Cook to the hospital where he stayed for five days. Since then, he has made a full recovery and has even returned to the classroom.

But it wouldn’t have happened without prompt action by the students. Reached by e-mail, Cook expressed appreciation for the help he received.

“I owe my life to Brando and David and three other students (Joey Murvis, Karina Reyner and Josh Rubin) who administered CPR and AED. I will be forever grateful to them,” Cook wrote.

Meanwhile, Feinstein’s parents, Larry and Candace of Ormond Beach, are understandably proud because for all his good grades and ambition, his latest accomplishment put everything in a new perspective.

“You want your kids to go out and do good. You couldn’t ask for anything better,” his mother said.

Malinowski and friend Kayla Stonehouse had come back from a water break during a kick boxing class about 9:20 p.m. Wednesday at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse’s Recreational Eagle Center to find abdominal exercises already had begun on the mat.

“Good thing we came back late,” Malinowski whispered jokingly to Stonehouse.

When the next exercise began, everyone flipped on their backs – except Malinowski.

Stonehouse again thought she was joking.

Then she noticed Malinowski’s face, eyes rolled back. She began to wheeze and gasp.

Stonehouse jumped up, yelling for help.

Sophomore Christiane Berdan was certified in CPR from her lifeguard days and as a UW-L athletic training student. She thought at first Malinowski had fainted but when she got closer realized it was much worse. The 20-year-old had no pulse and wasn’t breathing.

“You kick into autopilot and do what needs to be done at the moment and don’t think about it,” said Berdan.

Berdan started chest compressions, and Stonehouse began breathing for her friend.

Andrea Harrill, UW-L student and building manager at the center, was sitting at the back counter when a frantic person came from the fitness room. Harrill directed students and fellow staff to grab an on-site defibrillator and call 911.

Harrill administered shocks to Malinowski with the defibrillator until the La Crosse Fire Department and Tri-State Ambulance arrived.

Firefighter EMTs got Malinowski breathing on her own again, her father Mark Malinowski said.

His daughter is recovering at Franciscan Skemp Medical Center. Walking outside the hospital room, Mark Malinowski’s eyes teared up when he spoke of the many people who came through for his family and daughter – from UW-L staff to firefighters, first responders and hospital workers.

But she wouldn’t be alive had the students not known what to do, he said.

“They reacted. They weren’t afraid to do something,” he said. “These people are heroes in my book.”

“Talking to people and realizing more and more how bad it was when I was going to the hospital, realizing it really is a second chance at life,” Clare said.

“People I don’t even know and don’t remember and had no idea would do such things for me are showing all sorts of support. I can’t show thanks enough,” Clare said.

In a biology classroom last month, Manzano High School 14-year old freshman Nicholas Roldan almost lost his life.

“I don’t remember anything happening, at all. They said I said I feel weird, then I was out,” said Roldan.

“Two kids ran in and said there’s an emergency next door, we need you,” said Marianne Evans, teacher.

According to Evans, Roldan did not have a pulse an was not breathing. She said she performed CPR for about 15 minutes and there was still nothing.

“He would take a little breath and I’d think we had him, and I kept telling him breathe! Breathe! He just never took another breath after that,” said Evans.

At that time, another teacher rushed in with a defibrillator and shocked him.

“It’s a horrible thing to see. It’s nothing like on TV,” said Evans.

The paramedics finally showed up and was able to bring Roldan back.

“Right before they were going to leave the room, I heard them say, ‘He’s got a pulse,’” she said. “And all I said was, you know, ‘thank God.’”

“I remember just being in the hospital. I’m really grateful that everybody was there to help and that I’m fine now,” said Roldan.

Evans said that the defibrillation was a horrible thing to see but according to paramedics, without it the student would have died.

Just after noon, a 7-year-old boy was celebrating at a holiday party with his classmates at the Josiah Quincy Elementary School in Boston, said Matthew Wilder, spokesman for the Boston public schools.

Suddenly, he became unresponsive and went into cardiac arrest, Wilder said. It is unclear what triggered the problem.

School nurses immediately rushed to the classroom where the party was taking place and began performing CPR on the boy, Wilder said.

They also used a defibrillator.

Three minutes later, emergency medical technicians arrived and found the boy was not breathing and had no pulse. Paramedics arrived on the scene a few minutes later.

Emergency workers managed to revive the child, but he was not breathing on his own when they transported him across the street to Tufts Medical Center, according to emergency officials.

“The school nurse really should be praised,” said Jennifer Mehigan, spokeswoman for Boston Emergency Medical Services. “Those quick actions are really what save someone’s life.”

He is still listed as in critical condition.