First Aid Corps

Just before 2:30 last Thursday afternoon, Eagle Point sophomore Daniel Hinkle ran up a ramp during PE class, then collapsed at the feet of Diana Swopes.

View First Aid Corps World Map of AED Locations in a larger map

Eagle Point Principal Allen Barber says “he had a siezure and collapsed right at her feet, so she held his hand and he squeezed back”.

Mother of Daniel Hinkle the Survivor with Saviours

While Swopes sent for help Saniel’s seizure stopped, but so did his heart.

The Principal says “He was actually not with us for 5 to 8 minutes.”

That sent a group of 4 into action, using the automated external defibrillator they worked to get Daniel breathing once again.

One of those 4, School Resource Officer Mike Anselmi says “it said ready for charge and then I actually had to shock him and it stablized his heart and we started doing compression…it was a relief after he took his first breathe.”

He was breathing, but wasn’t done fighting for his life. Daniel’s mother says “he was siezing for 5 hours straight, it wasn’t until a day and a half later before he came around and gained consciousness”

Daniel was released from a Portland hospital today, but couldn’t be there today as the story was retold.

But his mother was and it was her first opportunity to thank the 4 heroes who helped save her son’s life.

“As soon as I saw them I just wanted to touch them and hug them for saving my son’s life..” The tears flowed as all 4 were honored by the school district for what it called a near perfect response to the emergency.

Four Oldham County High School staff members have been recognized for saving a student’s life with an automatic external defibrillator.

View First Aid Corps World Map of AED Locations in a larger map

On Feb. 14, Cole Gibson, 16, was in journalism class when he went into cardiac arrest. Several staff members stepped in, and through CPR and four jolts from an automatic external defibrillator, Gibson’s heart started beating again, Capt. David Price, a paramedic with Oldham County EMS, told Oldham Fiscal Court members Tuesday.

Cole Gibson the Survivor

Cole was taken to the hospital and subsequently diagnosed with an irregular heart rhythm, and he underwent surgery to have a defibrillator implanted, said his mother, Jean Smith. He is now at home recuperating.

“It doesn’t just happen to the other guy,” she said at the Fiscal Court meeting. “And when it does happen to you or touches you … it’s nice to know there are people like this who have their act together.

“God definitely was conducting a choir of angels that day,” she added.

Rich Graviss, associate principal; Sherry Stone, the campus nurse; Joan Thompson, Cole’s teacher; and Stan Torzewski, the assistant principal; were given certificates at the meeting, lauding their actions.

The first few moments after a heart stops beating are critical, and most people do not survive such an incident, Price said.

“Because of swift actions … we have one student who became one of those lucky few,” he said.

A Jessie Clark Middle School student was upgraded from serious to fair condition early Wednesday after collapsing during a baseball drill Monday afternoon.

View First Aid Corps World Map of AED Locations in a larger map

Meanwhile, Fayette County Public Schools officials said the student received prompt treatment in accordance with established emergency action plans.

Benjamin Highland the Survivor

“How it was handled with the trainer and coaches … everything was done as it should have been done,” Fayette Schools athletics director Don Adkins said during a news conference at the school district’s central office.

Benjamin Highland, an eighth-grader at Jessie Clark, collapsed about 5:30 p.m. Monday on the baseball field at Lafayette High School, where he was participating in conditioning drills in preparation for tryouts for Lafayette’s baseball team later this month. Highland apparently planned to try out, district officials said.

Highland was rushed to the University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital, where he was reported in critical condition Tuesday morning. His condition was upgraded to serious Tuesday afternoon.

Fayette high schools director Mike McKenzie said a veteran high school trainer, various Lafayette coaches and passersby pitched in to help when the boy was stricken.

The trainer, Jenni Williams, directed coaches to dial 911, treated Highland with an external defibrillator and then administered CPR while waiting for an ambulance to arrive, he said. A nurse who lives in the area and was out walking her dog saw what was happening and rushed in to help with CPR, while an off-duty police officer at the scene helped by making sure the ambulance could get onto the ballfield quickly, according to McKenzie.

District officials were trying to get the nurse’s name so they could thank her.

“It really was a team effort by a lot of people on the sidelines who jumped in and helped out,” he said.

McKenzie particularly credited Williams, a veteran trainer. Williams, who serves the school district under a contract with UK, was declining comment Tuesday, university officials said.

“With the adrenalin and emotion after such an event, she was pretty shook for a while last night,” McKenzie said. “She’s fine. But in the moments after such a situation where you’ve just helped a young person survive … .

“In talking with her last night … we thanked her and told her job well done. Her first response was, ‘It was a team effort.’”

Meanwhile, Fayette middle schools director Kelley Ransdell said the district sent support staff to Jessie Clark on Tuesday morning to help faculty members in offering support to students arriving for classes. Eighth-grade teachers spent extra time with their homeroom students Tuesday morning to explain what had happened and make counseling available if requested, Ransdell said.

“District support staff … reported to me this morning that things were going really well and that students were already in the mode of preparing some get-well cards,” she said.

Ransdell said Jessie Clark students were “really concerned” about their stricken classmate, “as we all are.”

According to Fayette school district officials, Highland and at least six other eighth-graders were participating in the drills Monday when the incident occurred.

It is not unusual for talented eighth-grade players to try out for high school baseball teams. At least 10 eighth-graders were on Lafayette’s roster last year, according to the school’s Web site.

The conditioning drills at Lafayette had been going on for several days, according to district officials.

McKenzie said he didn’t know the specific kind of drills that being used Monday. But he said no “hard-running activity” was involved. According to Ransdell, the drills already had started Monday afternoon when the middle school students arrived and started to take part.

McKenzie said the players had completed a drill and were transitioning to another when Highland collapsed. “One of the kids yelled ‘Coach;’ they looked over and saw a young man start to go down,” he said.

According to McKenzie, Lafayette head baseball coach Chris Langston rushed to Highland’s side and “determined immediately that they needed the trainer and called the trainer who was just inside the gym.”

When Williams arrived, she directed an assistant coach to dial 911 and sent another to bring the defibrillator. She then began CPR, McKenzie said.

McKenzie said he didn’t know how long CPR was administered before an ambulance arrived. He also said he didn’t know how long the conditioning drills had been going on before the boy collapsed.

In four years on the Rudder varsity football team, David Wilganowski watched hours of game video, reviewing countless plays with teammates and coaches in pursuit of improvement.

David Wilganowski the Survivor

But he had never seen anything like what happened in the Rangers’ game against Leander Rouse three weeks ago.

“I’ve watched it plenty of times,” Wilganowski said. “It’s eerie, but it doesn’t bother me. What am I going to do? It happened.”

What happened at Merrill Green Stadium on the night of Sept. 2 changed Wilganowski’s life. But his life didn’t end, thanks to medical personnel with the necessary equipment and training.

Wilganowski collapsed on the field in the fourth quarter of a tied game and went into cardiac arrest. Rudder trainer Jamie Woodall and her staff used an automated external defibrillator (AED) to restart Wilganowski’s heart. He was taken by ambulance to St. Joseph Regional Health Center, then later that night was flown by helicopter to Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston.

Eleven days later at Scott & White Hospital in Temple, Wilganowski underwent surgery in which a defibrillator was placed in his chest. He was released from the hospital and visited Rudder’s football practice the next day, and two days after that he was on the sideline cheering for his teammates as they played Houston C.E. King last Friday in their first game back at Merrill Green Stadium since the incident.

Wilganowski’s memory of his final game is like a video with a segment deleted. He remembers everything before the game, through three quarters and into the fourth period. Wilganowski does not remember the defensive series when Rudder forced the punt play after which he collapsed.

Woodall remembers that play. As is her habit, Woodall scanned the field, checking to make sure all the players got up. The last player she saw was Wilganowski, far from the football, toppling forward like a giant tree, unable to extend his arms to cushion the fall.

“I didn’t wait for a referee’s signal or anything,” Woodall said. “I ran out there. He was having trouble breathing, and when we turned him over he took his last breath.”

Woodall tears up at the memory. She and Bryan trainer Josh Woodall, her husband, are committee members of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association. Even before Nader’s incident, the Woodalls made sure there were AEDs at Bryan and Consolidated. Woodall was an assistant trainer with the Tigers when Nader collapsed.

“Knowing that behind me there were all these BISD employees making those phone calls and taking care of those things like getting the gates opened and barricades removed … knowing that was going on behind me was very comforting.” Woodall said.

Rudder assistant trainer Mike Lozano used scissors to remove Wilganowski’s jersey and shoulder pads. Woodall applied the AED, which works automatically and is different from the paddle-style device that most people picture when they think of defibrillators.

The crowd fell silent as the slender young woman began chest compression on the player, with some fans openly praying. Woodall had never used an AED to revive anyone.

“Every experience I’ve had as well as every training I’ve ever been in certainly prepared me for that moment,” Woodall said. “I’m very, very proud to say that in both incidents, with Matt and David, there was good protocol, there was preparation and there were athletic trainers on site to get those things rolling in the right direction.”

Woodall makes sure to share credit for Wilganowski’s treatment. She invited all 17 of Rudder’s student trainers to the Bryan school board meeting Tuesday when she and her staff were honored for helping Wilganowski.

“It is a good recognition for athletic trainers and that’s what I would like for people to take from this,” Woodall said. “Not just that proper protocol was followed, but that there were trained professionals there. Not everybody has that. There are many stories of people who didn’t make it, where there were no athletic trainers or AEDs, or if there were, no one thought to go get it.”

“I don’t feel cheated at all, because I’m still here,” Wilganowski said. “I do feel like I didn’t get as much accomplished as I wanted to, but I can do more with this [experience] than I could with football.

“I have mechanical engineering down [as my major]. Who knows? Some day I could be designing these,” he said, tapping his chest over the defibrillator.

Wilganowski hopes his story will help spread the word about the importance of having AEDs at athletic competitions and of training school personnel to handle life-threatening situations.

A Columbia Falls High School student collapsed after his heart failed earlier this week, but some quick action brought him back to life.

View First Aid Corps World Map of AED Locations in a larger map

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.