First Aid Corps

Blood rushed out of the back of Greg Castello’s head as he laid motionless on the pavement outside a northwest golf course. An off-duty firefighter who came to Castello’s rescue feared he was too late.

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For six minutes, Castello had stopped breathing. He had no idea Capt. Mike Szoke, 42, was saving his life by performing CPR.

Castello, who was 59 years old at the time, has no recollection of his heart attack on Oct. 10, 2011. He doesn’t remember going to work or opening the black Cadillac Escalade’s door for his passenger. He doesn’t remember clutching his chest, collapsing to the ground and cracking his skull on the cement.

Gregory Castello the Survivor and Capt. Mike Szoke the Saviour

“First question I asked my sister was, ‘Bonnie, did I kill anyone?’” Castello said.

Castello, a limo driver for AWG Ambassadors, a local chauffeur company, was afraid his injuries were from a car crash.

On Monday, Castello visited Szoke at a Flamingo Road fire station, minutes from the Strip. The two men shared a warm embrace and exchanged big smiles. This was the fourth time they’d seen one another since Castello’s heart attack.

“Without Mike being there, my brother would be dead because his heart stopped,” said Bonnie Castello, who was at the station taking photos. “I didn’t think he was going to make it.”

Five months ago, Castello drove his passenger 10 miles northwest of the valley and arrived at the Paiute Golf Resort for a golf tournament.

Szoke never saw Castello collapse from a heart attack, but once he noticed a man passed out on the ground, he took action.

“It just happened so fast,” Szoke said. “I just did anything anybody else would do.”

For five minutes, Szoke continued to do chest compressions and filled Castello’s lungs with air.

Szoke, who works at the golf course in his off-duty time, asked for a defibrillator he knew was inside the golf resort. The firefighter called out to a crowd of about 30 onlookers asking for someone to retrieve the small electrical generator.

Once the defibrillator was in place, Szoke sent a powerful electrical shock straight through Castello’s body. Szoke then performed CPR for another minute until Castello finally took a breath of air.

By then Las Vegas Fire and Rescue and Mercy Air — an emergency helicopter — were on scene and strapping Castello onto a gurney for a flight to Centennial Hills Hospital Medical Center.

Castello was hospitalized for 17 days, spending time in both Centennial Hills Hospital and Summerlin Hospital.

Surviving a heart attack has made Castello more self aware and willing to share his story with those around him.

“I’ve been in denial about what’s going on with me for the past 15 years,” said Castello, adding that his heart was clogged with cholesterol.

Castello now walks daily and has made changes to his diet, choosing veggies over red meat. He makes doctor’s appointments and regularly takes medicine for his heart.

“We usually don’t find out the outcome of the patients,” said Szoke, a firefighter of 19 years, adding that reunions of this nature don’t often happen.

Szoke said even though he was off duty, his firefighter training kicked in and compelled him to act.

“I just happened to be at the right place at the right time,” he said.

A 60-year-old mailman is recovering at Morristown Medical Center after he suffered a heart attack and police officers resuscitated him on Miller Road.

Just before noon on Thursday, Feb. 16 officers responded to a call about a possible fatal crash and found Angel L. Gonzalez of Dover in his mail truck approximately 20 feet off the roadway.

“From the evidence we’re gathering it seems Mr. Gonzalez was delivering mail when he had a heart attack in his truck. We think he tried to drive forward onto a busier street to flag someone down for help,” Harding police chief Kevin Gaffney said. “He then became unconscious and went off the road and into the woods.”

Officers David Achenbach, Erik Heller and Sgt. Mark Giansanti found Gonzalez unresponsive, not breathing and without a pulse. They performed CPR, shocked him three times with a portable defibrillator machine, and resuscitated him.

Gaffney says the defibrillator machines, which were purchased by the New Vernon first aid squad several years ago, are components of every police car. “We’re really happy with the equipment and they’ve come in handy several times,” he said. “It’s a win-win for us because it does not cost the town anything and the first aid squad maintains them weekly.”

The decision to install them in police cars was a no-brainer, Gaffney says. “Our average response time is two-and-a-half to three minutes so we are able to start whatever life-saving procedure is needed until the volunteers from the first aid squad arrive.”

Gonzalez, a mailman for 30 years, was transported to the Intensive Care Unit at Morristown Medical Center where he regained consciousness. Gaffney says as of Monday afternoon he was still being treated there.

“We checked up on (Mr. Gonzalez) all weekend and the doctor told us he was up and talking to people,” Gaffney said. “That means he’s making really good progress.” Gonzalez will undergo surgery to receive a pacemaker or internal defibrillator, Gaffney added.

Gonzalez is well-liked in the community and is passionate about his work, the police report says. For three decades he has delivered mail from the Green Village Post Office to the rural roads of the township.

The Valentine’s workday for Machacek, a general mechanic at Alcoa, was no different from any day in the past 15 years of his career.

Mike Machacek the Survivor

He was on a break and began to feel heart burn. One of his good friends, Brian Baros, was with him to make sure he was OK.

Machacek was not too worried, but something did not feel right. Then his head fell back and his heart went into lethal heart arrhythmia, or a deadly heart rhythm.

That is when Alcoa’s emergency response team hooked him to the defibrillator.

“I do remember them saying, ‘clear’,” he said. “But they said I was still out.”

Seventy-one minutes passed from the time the Calhoun County Emergency Medical Services arrived at the plant to when the blockage was cleared by a cardiologist at the Citizens cath lab.

That is well within the 90-minute time frame set by American College of Cardiology to have the blockage cleared, Stone said.

Stone was impressed at Alcoa’s emergency response team’s speedy action.

“The team’s efforts definitely saved a life,” said Allen Baxter, Alcoa’s health and safety manager. “This is what I call making the ultimate difference.”

On Friday, Machacek was ready to go home, looking as healthy as prior to his heart attack.

“I’m going to have to be really cautious on these holidays,” he said laughing.

Looking back, Machacek said he feels really fortunate. Had he been up four stories working, he may have not made it.

Even then, he never thought he could have a heart attack. He’s always had a slightly elevated blood pressure, but he never expected what happened on Valentine’s Day.

“It kind of really shocked me,” he said. “I come from a bullheaded family. We always say, ‘It ain’t gonna happen to you…’ and boom, it did.”

The Machaceks did not have any Valentine’s Day plans, but Stone said the couple received the best gift ever – a functioning heart.

For now, Machacek is going to take several weeks off work. He’s going to be more conscientious about his eating and exercise habits.

If there is anything Machacek has learned, he said, it’s something rather simple.

“50 is not that old,” he said smiling. “You’ve got a lot of life left in you.”

After a close call late last year when a member of its staff suffered a heart attack, the Tongue Point Job Corps Center is now better equiped with two defibrillators for a faster response to emergencies.

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Tita Montero, business and community liaison at Tongue Point Job Corps Center, said it was a close call.

Mike Plum, Jason Linnett and John Larson the Saviours

The only defibrillator on campus was at the opposite side of the center. According to Mitchell, there were a few minutes before the machine reached the teacher to save his life.

Tongue Point honored the three staff members who participated in the rescue recently at a staff meeting, including a 70-year-old safety and security officer, who brought the automated external defibrillator (AED) and delivered the life-saving shock.

John Larson, a 44-year employee of Tongue Point, has been an employee of Tongue Point longer than any other current member of staff.

It was he who arrived with the machine, while Jason Linnett, a seamanship instructor, and Mike Plum, a safety and security officer, performed CPR.

“Mike started CPR, then Jason arrived and helped with the CPR while John came with with AED that we have and John led the effort with the AED.”

The machine is kept in a security vehicle. That vehicle happened to be at the other end of the 64-acre campus.

“The three staff members who participated in the resuscitation were given the unsung hero awards,” Montero explained, an award given through nominations by other staff.

The life of a Grissom Middle School teacher was saved Friday when she was revived with an automated defibrillator, or AED, after she collapsed in a classroom at about 9 a.m.

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The teacher, whose name and other health details have not been released, was taken to Palos Community Hospital by paramedics and is now in stable condition, said school nurse Anne Connelly-Mitros.

The teacher was sitting in her chair in a classroom with students when she fell to the floor without warning. Students were moved out of the classroom and Connelly-Mitros reported with the defibrillator.

“The AED was used on her because I did not feel a pulse,” she said, adding that it was the first time school officials have used one of its AED’s in an emergency.

“Once I realized it was a life or death situation, I just got into a mode that we had to do what we had to do,” she said. “We were very organized and it worked out very well.”

A social worker spoke with students from the class and made calls to their parents to explain what happened. Asst. Principal Annette Szczasny said the students were concerned about their teacher but they are being updated on her condition.

“We have let them know that she is in good hands and that there is constant contact between her family and the school,” she said.

As the day was winding down, Connolly-Mitros said the school was filled with a sense of relief that staff members had acted quickly and that their colleague was OK.

“We’re very, very happy here today,” she said. “As terrible as the situation is, it went smoothly.”

Superintendent Mike Byrne said he was thankful for the quick thinking of the school’s staff and for the defibrillator.

“It seems to me it really prevented something that could have been tragic,” he said. “We’re glad the AEDs are here and they did what they were supposed to do.”