YPG employee's CPR saves coworker
July 06, 2011 11:44 PM
BY SARAH WOMER - SUN STAFF WRITER
After waking up and going about his normal daily routine, Alex Molina said it felt like any other regular day— little did he know, that would be the day he would save another person's life.
About three weeks ago, Molina, who works as a field test engineer for Syracuse Resource Corporation at Yuma Proving Ground, was going to drop off his testing equipment at a facility located 50 miles downrange before he left to go home for the day.
When he arrived at the building around mid-afternoon, he saw that his coworker appeared to be asleep in his vehicle, and given their camaraderie, Molina had the idea to scare his fellow employee as a joke.
Unfortunately, he soon discovered that his friend was not sleeping but had passed out due to heat stroke on a day where the outdoor temperatures reached well above 100 degrees.
Molina immediately ran into a nearby building to call “5111,” which is the number used to contact emergency personnel at YPG.
During the next 10 minutes that passed until the emergency crews arrived, Molina said that his prior medical training kicked in and he preformed CPR on his friend. Because his friend was slumped over in the front seat of his vehicle, he tilted the seat back as far as it would go and got in the backseat to preform CPR. Additionally, he said that his coworker's mouth was wired shut, forcing him to breathe through the patient's nose.
“He was so pale,” he said, noting that it was a scary sight to see his friend unconscious, not breathing and with no pulse to be found.
His coworker was later transferred to Yuma Regional Medical Center for further treatment where he has since recovered and returned to work.
“Everything was happening so fast and so slow at the same time,” he said.
Molina, who was born and raised in Yuma and graduated from San Pasqual Valley High School in 1994, said that he never expected to have to use any of his CPR training that he received while in the Marine Corps.
When asked about the value of the training, he said that he encourages everyone to get certified, regardless of whether or not it is required for the job that they are in.
Both his coworker and his coworker's girlfriend have both thanked him countless times for his efforts, but Molina added humbly, “I was just really fortunate to be at the right place at the right time. I think anyone in my situation would have reacted the same way.”
Since the incident, Molina remarked that he has become more observant and is encouraging the continuous hydration of his fellow coworkers.
“For his heroic actions, Molina was recognized with a certificate of recognition by the U.S. Army Product Manager for Counter Radio-Controlled Improvised Explosive Device Electronic Warfare,” stated a news release. “In addition, Molina was given the Yuma Proving Ground Safety Award by Col. Reed Young, YPG commander.”
Jerry Ball, assistant fire chief of operations at YPG Fire Department said that although all of their personnel are not required to by CPR certified, they hope to provide the classes for all employees. He added that they are well on their way to reaching their goal of 100 percent certification.
“Nobody is expecting a medical emergency to happen but it can happen to anyone at any time and having that training is giving that person a better chance of surviving,” Ball said.
He commented that CPR classes are civilian friendly for those who may not have had prior experience in the medical field.
When you see a cardiac arrest, your brain fights you - "No, this isn't really happening" - and the circumstances fight you - "Dang! in CPR class the manikin didn't weigh very much and wasn't sitting in a deep chair. This blog deals with practical details and presents reports of "saves." Let me have your questions and comments - they will steer the course of this blog. This blog is brought to you by the volunteers at www.slicc.org
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Girl Who Nearly Drowned in Great Oaks Pool 'Doing Great' Today, Mom Says
Recent Rochester High grad was lifeguard who helped save Stella Dougherty's life.
By Jen Anesi | Email the author | 5:45am Print&nbps;5 Comments
For a split second, Jennifer Dougherty thought her 3-year-old daughter, Stella, was just being adventurous in the kiddie pool at Great Oaks Country Club in Rochester Hills.
Stella's head was underwater – something Dougherty said her daughter was usually too afraid to do.
Then, the Clarkston resident and mother of two realized her daughter wasn't playing. Nor was she moving.
And she was blue.
“I was just panic-stricken," said Dougherty. "I needed help.”
Help would arrive from all directions. And so began a series of events last Wednesday that would save little Stella's life.
'It was terrifying'
Today, a week after the ordeal, Stella is doing fine.
What caused Stella to end up face down in the shallow pool is not clear, though Dougherty said doctors believe Stella may have had a febrile seizure – a type of seizure that can be caused by a spike in a child's body temperature.
When she first noticed her daughter not moving and face-down in the pool, Dougherty said she pulled her out and began screaming.
The screams caught the attention of nearby lifeguard Michael Zuke.
"She had her daughter in her arms, and her daughter was just blue," said 18-year-old Zuke, a recent Rochester High School graduate. "It hit me just then that this is real."
Zuke ran over, unzipped Stella's life jacket, told another lifeguard to call 911 and immediately began CPR.
"It was terrifying," said Dougherty.
Zuke, performing one-handed chest compressions on the girl's small frame, was soon joined by fellow lifeguards Bret Miller and Ben Vavra, who took turns performing chest compressions and rescue breathing until paramedics arrived.
Within 10 minutes, or what "felt like an hour" to Zuke, the Rochester Hills Fire Department arrived on the scene. By that time, little Stella was groaning and breathing on her own, Zuke said.
“I can’t even recall everything what went on at that time now," said Dougherty, who also has a 21-month-old daughter, Violet. “All I remember is her shaking, like a seizure."
Mom thanks those who helped
Stella was transported first to Crittenton Hospital Medical Center in Rochester and then on to Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. She was released that evening.
“She’s doing great right now, thank goodness," Dougherty said.
Though Stella is doing well now, her near drowning is still affecting those who were involved.
"It was gut-wrenching going there" without knowing the girl's condition, said Oakland County Sheriff's Sergeant John Jacobson on Tuesday. Jacobson responded to the call along with the Rochester Hills Fire Department.
Jacobson even followed Stella to Crittenton Hospital. "I spoke to her doctor myself and she was up, alert and talking when I left," he said.
Deputy Kevin McNally, who also responded to the call, kept tabs on Stella's recovery at Beaumont, which Dougherty said she appreciated.
And, of course, Dougherty said she is grateful for the lifeguards who were present at that moment, for the paramedics who responded and for anyone else who helped her daughter that day.
“Anyone that helped, anyone that picked up the phone, whoever called 911 – there were a few moms who came over and tried to help ... I’m just appreciative of any help we received."
Dougherty hopes that there's a lesson to be learned from her family's ordeal.
"It wasn't like she was left for 30 seconds," Dougherty said. “It couldn’t have been more than 10 seconds, and she was face-down in the pool.
"You turn your back for five seconds, 10 seconds, and that's all it takes."
By Jen Anesi | Email the author | 5:45am Print&nbps;5 Comments
For a split second, Jennifer Dougherty thought her 3-year-old daughter, Stella, was just being adventurous in the kiddie pool at Great Oaks Country Club in Rochester Hills.
Stella's head was underwater – something Dougherty said her daughter was usually too afraid to do.
Then, the Clarkston resident and mother of two realized her daughter wasn't playing. Nor was she moving.
And she was blue.
“I was just panic-stricken," said Dougherty. "I needed help.”
Help would arrive from all directions. And so began a series of events last Wednesday that would save little Stella's life.
'It was terrifying'
Today, a week after the ordeal, Stella is doing fine.
What caused Stella to end up face down in the shallow pool is not clear, though Dougherty said doctors believe Stella may have had a febrile seizure – a type of seizure that can be caused by a spike in a child's body temperature.
When she first noticed her daughter not moving and face-down in the pool, Dougherty said she pulled her out and began screaming.
The screams caught the attention of nearby lifeguard Michael Zuke.
"She had her daughter in her arms, and her daughter was just blue," said 18-year-old Zuke, a recent Rochester High School graduate. "It hit me just then that this is real."
Zuke ran over, unzipped Stella's life jacket, told another lifeguard to call 911 and immediately began CPR.
"It was terrifying," said Dougherty.
Zuke, performing one-handed chest compressions on the girl's small frame, was soon joined by fellow lifeguards Bret Miller and Ben Vavra, who took turns performing chest compressions and rescue breathing until paramedics arrived.
Within 10 minutes, or what "felt like an hour" to Zuke, the Rochester Hills Fire Department arrived on the scene. By that time, little Stella was groaning and breathing on her own, Zuke said.
“I can’t even recall everything what went on at that time now," said Dougherty, who also has a 21-month-old daughter, Violet. “All I remember is her shaking, like a seizure."
Mom thanks those who helped
Stella was transported first to Crittenton Hospital Medical Center in Rochester and then on to Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. She was released that evening.
“She’s doing great right now, thank goodness," Dougherty said.
Though Stella is doing well now, her near drowning is still affecting those who were involved.
"It was gut-wrenching going there" without knowing the girl's condition, said Oakland County Sheriff's Sergeant John Jacobson on Tuesday. Jacobson responded to the call along with the Rochester Hills Fire Department.
Jacobson even followed Stella to Crittenton Hospital. "I spoke to her doctor myself and she was up, alert and talking when I left," he said.
Deputy Kevin McNally, who also responded to the call, kept tabs on Stella's recovery at Beaumont, which Dougherty said she appreciated.
And, of course, Dougherty said she is grateful for the lifeguards who were present at that moment, for the paramedics who responded and for anyone else who helped her daughter that day.
“Anyone that helped, anyone that picked up the phone, whoever called 911 – there were a few moms who came over and tried to help ... I’m just appreciative of any help we received."
Dougherty hopes that there's a lesson to be learned from her family's ordeal.
"It wasn't like she was left for 30 seconds," Dougherty said. “It couldn’t have been more than 10 seconds, and she was face-down in the pool.
"You turn your back for five seconds, 10 seconds, and that's all it takes."
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Peachtree cardiac arrest runner 'doing fine' a day after
ATLANTA -- Ask anyone who ran Monday's AJC Peachtree Road Race: it was a scorcher.
The hot weather meant Grady Hospital EMT's transporting more than twice as many patients as usual from the race. The scariest case? A man that had cardiac arrest just short of the finish line.
On the corner of 10th and Piedmont, one of the more active corners of an always-active course track, a middle-aged man collapsed on the street at 10:30 in the morning.
"The bike medic was there within a minute," said Michael Colman, operations manager for Grady EMS.
The bike medics are a group of Grady Hospital EMTs who volunteer to help during the race. They carry all the necessary emergency equipment and, in a packed race like the Peachtree, often get to spots faster than an ambulance.
Said Colman, "It really helps us to be able to basically get a mini-ambulance to the patient."
This patient was having cardiac arrest. Within minutes, medics brought out a defibrillator and attempted to revive him.
It worked.
"The entire crowd started cheering," said runner Ryan Watton, who witnessed the whole thing. "He was put on the stretcher; he raised his arms just to let everyone know, 'I'm OK'."
At 11Alive News we received numerous responses from eyewitnesses and concerned residents who wanted to know if the man who collapsed was still OK. Good news: he is. According to race officials, he was undergoing tests early Tuesday but was "doing fine."
The hot weather meant Grady Hospital EMT's transporting more than twice as many patients as usual from the race. The scariest case? A man that had cardiac arrest just short of the finish line.
On the corner of 10th and Piedmont, one of the more active corners of an always-active course track, a middle-aged man collapsed on the street at 10:30 in the morning.
"The bike medic was there within a minute," said Michael Colman, operations manager for Grady EMS.
The bike medics are a group of Grady Hospital EMTs who volunteer to help during the race. They carry all the necessary emergency equipment and, in a packed race like the Peachtree, often get to spots faster than an ambulance.
Said Colman, "It really helps us to be able to basically get a mini-ambulance to the patient."
This patient was having cardiac arrest. Within minutes, medics brought out a defibrillator and attempted to revive him.
It worked.
"The entire crowd started cheering," said runner Ryan Watton, who witnessed the whole thing. "He was put on the stretcher; he raised his arms just to let everyone know, 'I'm OK'."
At 11Alive News we received numerous responses from eyewitnesses and concerned residents who wanted to know if the man who collapsed was still OK. Good news: he is. According to race officials, he was undergoing tests early Tuesday but was "doing fine."
Friday, July 1, 2011
When this sort of thing stops being NEWS, we will be where we need to be!
Lifeguards save boy in Quincy pool
E-mail| Print | Comments (0) July 1, 2011 8:38 PM
By Neal J. Riley, Globe Correspondent
A Quincy boy who stopped breathing while at his swim class today was revived by lifeguards who pulled him from the water and performed CPR, town officials said.
The boy, who police said was 13, was in the highest-level swim class at the Lincoln-Hancock Community School in Quincy when he lost consciousness in the water at about 1 p.m., according to Christopher Walker, spokesman for Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch.
About 45-50 youths were in the pool at the time, watched by 14 lifeguards, Walker said.
It appears that the near-drowning of the boy, who was taken to Children’s Hospital Boston, was the result of a medical condition, Quincy Recreation Director Barry Welch said. The unidentified boy apparently tried to stand up in the shallow end and fell backward onto another swimmer, Welch said.
Lifeguard Joseph Benoit, 20, said in a telephone interview that the class was wrapping up when some of the students, who range from 10 to 15 years old, alerted him that the boy was bleeding from the mouth and sinking under the water near the side of the pool. He and another lifeguard pulled the boy out and immediately began CPR with lifeguard Julie Kisielius, 21.
“I’ve done it hundreds and hundreds of times on the dummies but this is the first time I’ve done it on a human,” said Benoit, a junior studying civil engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
Benoit said he did not initially detect a pulse from the boy and estimated that two minutes went by before he was revived, a situation that had everyone “a little scared.”
“As far as the nerves, the nerves are still real,” Benoit said tonight.
The pool’s on-site supervisor, Benoit said he had just been recertified in CPR two weeks ago. He has been a lifeguard at the pool for five summers.
“The proper training helped out with everything and made it go smoothly,” he said.
About 750 children take lessons at the pool during the summer, Welch said.
“They were as cool as can be, it was textbook,” Welch said of the lifeguards, who are all trained by the American Red Cross. “All the training that you put into these situations, it’s nice to see that the young people respond as they’re trained to do.”
“I think it’s fair to say that they saved this kid’s life,” Walker said. “At the very least they prevented a tragedy.”
Benoit said he was just happy that the boy was OK.
“Hopefully we’ll see him again for future lessons,” he said.
E-mail| Print | Comments (0) July 1, 2011 8:38 PM
By Neal J. Riley, Globe Correspondent
A Quincy boy who stopped breathing while at his swim class today was revived by lifeguards who pulled him from the water and performed CPR, town officials said.
The boy, who police said was 13, was in the highest-level swim class at the Lincoln-Hancock Community School in Quincy when he lost consciousness in the water at about 1 p.m., according to Christopher Walker, spokesman for Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch.
About 45-50 youths were in the pool at the time, watched by 14 lifeguards, Walker said.
It appears that the near-drowning of the boy, who was taken to Children’s Hospital Boston, was the result of a medical condition, Quincy Recreation Director Barry Welch said. The unidentified boy apparently tried to stand up in the shallow end and fell backward onto another swimmer, Welch said.
Lifeguard Joseph Benoit, 20, said in a telephone interview that the class was wrapping up when some of the students, who range from 10 to 15 years old, alerted him that the boy was bleeding from the mouth and sinking under the water near the side of the pool. He and another lifeguard pulled the boy out and immediately began CPR with lifeguard Julie Kisielius, 21.
“I’ve done it hundreds and hundreds of times on the dummies but this is the first time I’ve done it on a human,” said Benoit, a junior studying civil engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
Benoit said he did not initially detect a pulse from the boy and estimated that two minutes went by before he was revived, a situation that had everyone “a little scared.”
“As far as the nerves, the nerves are still real,” Benoit said tonight.
The pool’s on-site supervisor, Benoit said he had just been recertified in CPR two weeks ago. He has been a lifeguard at the pool for five summers.
“The proper training helped out with everything and made it go smoothly,” he said.
About 750 children take lessons at the pool during the summer, Welch said.
“They were as cool as can be, it was textbook,” Welch said of the lifeguards, who are all trained by the American Red Cross. “All the training that you put into these situations, it’s nice to see that the young people respond as they’re trained to do.”
“I think it’s fair to say that they saved this kid’s life,” Walker said. “At the very least they prevented a tragedy.”
Benoit said he was just happy that the boy was OK.
“Hopefully we’ll see him again for future lessons,” he said.
Warrington man thanks police, firemen for saving his life
Posted: Friday, July 1, 2011 2:27 pm | Updated: 3:20 pm, Fri Jul 1, 2011.
By Rich Pietras Staff Writer | 0 comments
Warrington police and fire personnel were recognized this week at the board of supervisors meeting - and by the man they helped saved - after responding to a call on the evening of April 29.
After 59-year-old Pine Code Road resident Chris Opdyke went into cardiac arrest, his wife Pat called 911. After Pat started CPR, police and firemen arrived and used an automated external defibrillators (AED) machine before Medics from Central Bucks Ambulance arrived.
By Rich Pietras Staff Writer | 0 comments
Warrington police and fire personnel were recognized this week at the board of supervisors meeting - and by the man they helped saved - after responding to a call on the evening of April 29.
After 59-year-old Pine Code Road resident Chris Opdyke went into cardiac arrest, his wife Pat called 911. After Pat started CPR, police and firemen arrived and used an automated external defibrillators (AED) machine before Medics from Central Bucks Ambulance arrived.
Good Guys 1, Commotio Cordis 0
Two honored as destiny leads to a life saved
HEROES — Rome Free Academy lacrosse coaches Guy Calandra, left, and Jeremy Roberts, were honored by the Board of Education Wednesday night for helping save the life of a lacrosse player in Onondaga County on June 15. (Sentinel photo by Lindsay A. Mogle)
Rome Free Academy varsity lacrosse coach Jeremy Roberts believes his entire life may have been leading to the day he was able to use all of his training and skills to help save the life of one of his players.
"As I look back at it, God has a plan and he puts people in places for certain reasons," said Roberts, age 36. "He took 20 years to get me ready for that one day, in my opinion."
Roberts and fellow RFA coach Guy Calandra used their CPR training to help keep Jamesville-DeWitt sophomore Daniel Cochran alive after he took a hard ball to the chest on June 15 in Onondaga County. The two coaches kept pumping and breathing until a defibrillator was carried out onto the field and shocked the teen back to life.
Roberts said he first learned CPR as a life guard at age 16, and then leaned how to deal with crisis situations when he served in the Marines. He also became a certified CPR trainer with the Red Cross a few years ago, and has to know first aid as a coach.
"I was put on that field on that day," Roberts said. God "put me there to save Danny’s life."
Roberts and Calandra were honored for their life-saving efforts by the Rome Board of Education Wednesday night. But both men said they don’t deserve all the credit.
"Everybody did things right on cue, nobody panicked. A lot of people did everything right," said Calandra. "It’s pretty traumatic, thinking back; what he looked like, what could have happened."
Cochran was one of 55 players trying out for the Nike Upstate Rising lacrosse competition on June 15 at the Fayetteville-Manlius High School in Onondaga County. Roberts and Calandra had been chosen in October to coach the sophomore Upstate Rising team. Calandra said he was about five feet away when Cochran, playing defense, turned into a shot from one of the offensive players. The ball hit Cochran in the left side of his chest, just below his padding.
"He yelled and he took a few steps and he fell face first," Calandra said. He knelt down to check on Cochran, but was getting no response. So he yelled across the field for Roberts.
"The first time he yelled to me, I thought he was just trying to get my attention," Roberts stated. "He yelled again and I could tell from the pitch of his voice...that something was seriously wrong."
Roberts joined Calandra at Cochran’s side, and as they checked the boy they determined he wasn’t breathing and didn’t have a pulse.
"We just looked at each other and we knew within seconds that he didn’t have a pulse, so we started CPR," Calandra said. He started chest compressions and Roberts started breathing. Calandra said they went through two cycles of CPR before a registered nurse came to the field and took over.
Calandra said he called Cochran’s parents and called 9-1-1 as athletic director Cyndi Kelder came to the field with the defibrillator and shock paddles. One use of the defibrillator put Cochran’s heart back into rhythm and started him breathing again.
"Within 15 seconds, I had everything again. It was phenomenal what happened in that minute after the shock," Roberts said. "I kept encouraging him, telling him to hang in there."
Cochran was rushed to University Hospital in Syracuse and eventually made a full recovery. He returned to school before the end of the year and is expected to return for the next round of lacrosse try-outs on July 13. Both coaches said they look forward to seeing Cochran again.
Calandra and Roberts were saluted at the Board of Education meeting Wednesday night with formal commendations plus separate praise from Rome school district representatives.
The efforts by Calandra and Roberts on June 15 "reflected the best" in the district’s coaches and teams, said district Superintendent Jeffrey P. Simons. Their "quick actions" in responding to Cochran’s emergency needs "reflected very well on our entire community" in what he described as "what a remarkable event."
Athletic Director Michael Stamboly said Calandra and Roberts "absolutely rose to the occasion." He added, "to save somebody’s life" has to be "the highest honor anybody can achieve." They have "two different approaches...two different styles," he observed, but "they work as a team" which was evident in what they did for Cochran. He remarked, "God knows what would have happened" if not for them, commenting "you guys did a great job."
Athletic Trainer Kelly Hoke said "our athletic department is a family," and Calandra and Roberts are "so representative of what we try to do....How we care about the kids...." She noted how proud their own families were, and added, "we’re so proud of them" as well.
Simons concluded the remarks by telling Calandra and Roberts, "thank you for your actions" and "the high quality with which you represented the district."
The two coaches received plaques with the framed text of their commendations from the board, said Simons, along with commemorative desk clocks that include a facing inscription recognizing their accomplishments on June 15.
HEROES — Rome Free Academy lacrosse coaches Guy Calandra, left, and Jeremy Roberts, were honored by the Board of Education Wednesday night for helping save the life of a lacrosse player in Onondaga County on June 15. (Sentinel photo by Lindsay A. Mogle)
Rome Free Academy varsity lacrosse coach Jeremy Roberts believes his entire life may have been leading to the day he was able to use all of his training and skills to help save the life of one of his players.
"As I look back at it, God has a plan and he puts people in places for certain reasons," said Roberts, age 36. "He took 20 years to get me ready for that one day, in my opinion."
Roberts and fellow RFA coach Guy Calandra used their CPR training to help keep Jamesville-DeWitt sophomore Daniel Cochran alive after he took a hard ball to the chest on June 15 in Onondaga County. The two coaches kept pumping and breathing until a defibrillator was carried out onto the field and shocked the teen back to life.
Roberts said he first learned CPR as a life guard at age 16, and then leaned how to deal with crisis situations when he served in the Marines. He also became a certified CPR trainer with the Red Cross a few years ago, and has to know first aid as a coach.
"I was put on that field on that day," Roberts said. God "put me there to save Danny’s life."
Roberts and Calandra were honored for their life-saving efforts by the Rome Board of Education Wednesday night. But both men said they don’t deserve all the credit.
"Everybody did things right on cue, nobody panicked. A lot of people did everything right," said Calandra. "It’s pretty traumatic, thinking back; what he looked like, what could have happened."
Cochran was one of 55 players trying out for the Nike Upstate Rising lacrosse competition on June 15 at the Fayetteville-Manlius High School in Onondaga County. Roberts and Calandra had been chosen in October to coach the sophomore Upstate Rising team. Calandra said he was about five feet away when Cochran, playing defense, turned into a shot from one of the offensive players. The ball hit Cochran in the left side of his chest, just below his padding.
"He yelled and he took a few steps and he fell face first," Calandra said. He knelt down to check on Cochran, but was getting no response. So he yelled across the field for Roberts.
"The first time he yelled to me, I thought he was just trying to get my attention," Roberts stated. "He yelled again and I could tell from the pitch of his voice...that something was seriously wrong."
Roberts joined Calandra at Cochran’s side, and as they checked the boy they determined he wasn’t breathing and didn’t have a pulse.
"We just looked at each other and we knew within seconds that he didn’t have a pulse, so we started CPR," Calandra said. He started chest compressions and Roberts started breathing. Calandra said they went through two cycles of CPR before a registered nurse came to the field and took over.
Calandra said he called Cochran’s parents and called 9-1-1 as athletic director Cyndi Kelder came to the field with the defibrillator and shock paddles. One use of the defibrillator put Cochran’s heart back into rhythm and started him breathing again.
"Within 15 seconds, I had everything again. It was phenomenal what happened in that minute after the shock," Roberts said. "I kept encouraging him, telling him to hang in there."
Cochran was rushed to University Hospital in Syracuse and eventually made a full recovery. He returned to school before the end of the year and is expected to return for the next round of lacrosse try-outs on July 13. Both coaches said they look forward to seeing Cochran again.
Calandra and Roberts were saluted at the Board of Education meeting Wednesday night with formal commendations plus separate praise from Rome school district representatives.
The efforts by Calandra and Roberts on June 15 "reflected the best" in the district’s coaches and teams, said district Superintendent Jeffrey P. Simons. Their "quick actions" in responding to Cochran’s emergency needs "reflected very well on our entire community" in what he described as "what a remarkable event."
Athletic Director Michael Stamboly said Calandra and Roberts "absolutely rose to the occasion." He added, "to save somebody’s life" has to be "the highest honor anybody can achieve." They have "two different approaches...two different styles," he observed, but "they work as a team" which was evident in what they did for Cochran. He remarked, "God knows what would have happened" if not for them, commenting "you guys did a great job."
Athletic Trainer Kelly Hoke said "our athletic department is a family," and Calandra and Roberts are "so representative of what we try to do....How we care about the kids...." She noted how proud their own families were, and added, "we’re so proud of them" as well.
Simons concluded the remarks by telling Calandra and Roberts, "thank you for your actions" and "the high quality with which you represented the district."
The two coaches received plaques with the framed text of their commendations from the board, said Simons, along with commemorative desk clocks that include a facing inscription recognizing their accomplishments on June 15.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Changing EMS dispatcher CPR instructions to 400 compressions before mouth-to-mouth improved bystander CPR rates
From our buddies down under...
Abstract
Background
To examine the impact of changing dispatcher CPR instructions (400 compressions: 2 breaths, followed by 100:2 ratio) on rates of bystander CPR and survival in adults with presumed cardiac out-of-hospital arrest (OHCA) in Melbourne, Australia.
Methods
The Victorian Ambulance Cardiac Arrest Registry (VACAR) was searched for OHCA where Emergency Medical Services (EMS) attempted CPR between August 2006 and August 2009. OHCA included were: 1) patients aged ≥18 years old; 2) presumed cardiac etiology; and 3) not witnessed by EMS.
Results
For the pre- and post- study periods, 1021 and 2101 OHCAs met inclusion criteria, respectively. Rates of bystander CPR increased overall (45% to 55%, p<0.001) and by initial rhythm (shockable 55% to 70%, p<0.001 and non-shockable 40% to 46%, p=0.01). In VF/VT OHCA, there were improvements in the number of patients arriving at hospital with a return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) (48% to 56%, p=0.02) and in survival to hospital discharge (21% to 29%, p=0.002), with improved outcomes restricted to patients receiving bystander CPR. After adjusting for factors associated with survival, the period of time following the change in CPR instructions was a significant predictor of survival to hospital discharge in VF/VT patients (OR 1.57, 95%CI: 1.15 to 2.20, p=0.005).
Conclusion
Following changes to dispatcher CPR instructions, significant increases were seen in rates of bystander CPR and improvements were seen in survival in VF/VT patients who received bystander CPR, after adjusting for factors associated with survival.
Abstract
Background
To examine the impact of changing dispatcher CPR instructions (400 compressions: 2 breaths, followed by 100:2 ratio) on rates of bystander CPR and survival in adults with presumed cardiac out-of-hospital arrest (OHCA) in Melbourne, Australia.
Methods
The Victorian Ambulance Cardiac Arrest Registry (VACAR) was searched for OHCA where Emergency Medical Services (EMS) attempted CPR between August 2006 and August 2009. OHCA included were: 1) patients aged ≥18 years old; 2) presumed cardiac etiology; and 3) not witnessed by EMS.
Results
For the pre- and post- study periods, 1021 and 2101 OHCAs met inclusion criteria, respectively. Rates of bystander CPR increased overall (45% to 55%, p<0.001) and by initial rhythm (shockable 55% to 70%, p<0.001 and non-shockable 40% to 46%, p=0.01). In VF/VT OHCA, there were improvements in the number of patients arriving at hospital with a return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) (48% to 56%, p=0.02) and in survival to hospital discharge (21% to 29%, p=0.002), with improved outcomes restricted to patients receiving bystander CPR. After adjusting for factors associated with survival, the period of time following the change in CPR instructions was a significant predictor of survival to hospital discharge in VF/VT patients (OR 1.57, 95%CI: 1.15 to 2.20, p=0.005).
Conclusion
Following changes to dispatcher CPR instructions, significant increases were seen in rates of bystander CPR and improvements were seen in survival in VF/VT patients who received bystander CPR, after adjusting for factors associated with survival.
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