Trauma Strikes the Field Hockey Teams
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 By Ethan Muller
From Perry Hall High's online newspaper
In life, situations can go from happy and exciting to gloomy and traumatic in a matter of seconds. Last night, September 27, 2011 the JV and Varsity Field Hockey teams experienced one of these moments. Shortly after scoring the winning goal, her second of the afternoon, a freshman on the JV team collapsed on the field at Catonsville High School. The coaches and athletic director rushed to provide medical assistance. The staff administered CPR immediately, which saved the young athlete's life.
While CPR was being administered, another person present at the game called 911 for an ambulance. Upon the arrival of paramedics, she was breathing but remained unconscious. The Varsity game, which was scheduled to directly follow the JV match, was postponed.
After being taken to St. Agnes and confirmed stable, she was moved to the pediatric unit at University of Maryland. The doctors have yet to find a cause of her collapse and tests are still being done. Perry Hall wishes nothing less than a speedy recovery for the student and our thoughts go out to her family and teammates.
_________________________
A few points about this story that are interesting...
First, with no mention of AED use by the staff, we either have to assume that it happened but was not reported, or we have to assume that the victim enjoyed a return of spontaneous circulation ("ROSC") on chest compressions alone. I've only seen that happen in one of the forty-nine cardiac arrest events in which i've been involved.
Second, with ROSC and being in a coma (CPC score of 4), this person was an ideal candidate for therapeutic hypothermia ("TH"). We can't tell from the article whether or not TH was applied.
Third, the CPC score of 4 makes me wonder how long the time between the arrest and the initiation of CPR was. If the time was 5 minutes - and you'd be amazed at how fast five minutes can add up - I can understand the CPC 4 score. If the CPR were, indeed, more immediate, there might well be something else going on.
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
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
Injured Healdsburg Driver Out of Coma
Police said Charles Matlak was talking and visiting with a family member at hospital.
This article was updated on Monday, Sept 26, 2011.
A Healdsburg man seriously injured in a single-car crash Thursday on University Street is starting to recover and was taken out of a medically induced coma at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, police said Monday.
"His sister flew in to be with him, and she said he was talking with her today at the hospital," said Healdsburg Police Officer Steve Moore. "He's doing a lot better."
Moore identified the man as Charles Matlak, 59, of Healdsburg, a self-employed sales and marketing specialist.
Matlak suffered what Moore said appeared to be a heart attack while driving his Mercedes SUV on University Street at about 3 p.m. Thursday. The attack caused him to crash the car into a power pole.
Moore on Monday confirmed reports over the weekend from Healdsburg Police Cpl. Tanya Potter that emergency measures by police and bystanders likely saved Matlak's life.
Police used an AED, or automatic external defibrillator, to restore Matlak's heartbeat, and bystanders applied CPR.
"It looks like all the life-saving devices that were used at the scene saved his life," Potter said Sunday.
Thursday's crash led to a seven-hour power outage until utility crews could repair the damage.
This article was updated on Monday, Sept 26, 2011.
A Healdsburg man seriously injured in a single-car crash Thursday on University Street is starting to recover and was taken out of a medically induced coma at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, police said Monday.
"His sister flew in to be with him, and she said he was talking with her today at the hospital," said Healdsburg Police Officer Steve Moore. "He's doing a lot better."
Moore identified the man as Charles Matlak, 59, of Healdsburg, a self-employed sales and marketing specialist.
Matlak suffered what Moore said appeared to be a heart attack while driving his Mercedes SUV on University Street at about 3 p.m. Thursday. The attack caused him to crash the car into a power pole.
Moore on Monday confirmed reports over the weekend from Healdsburg Police Cpl. Tanya Potter that emergency measures by police and bystanders likely saved Matlak's life.
Police used an AED, or automatic external defibrillator, to restore Matlak's heartbeat, and bystanders applied CPR.
"It looks like all the life-saving devices that were used at the scene saved his life," Potter said Sunday.
Thursday's crash led to a seven-hour power outage until utility crews could repair the damage.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Nurse finds herself in right place, right time
By Mary Landers (SavannahNow.com)
Julie Anderson Paul knew something was desperately wrong from the tone of the other mother’s voice. The 34-year-old nurse had just settled back into her beach chair after a walk on Tybee’s north end when she heard the unmistakable sound of panic.
“Help my son. Oh please, please, please.”
The possibilities raced through Paul’s mind as she pounded to the surf: seizure, shark bite or drowning.
She saw the toddler’s face, blue beneath his summer buzz cut. A swim diaper had been pulled down revealing he’d soiled himself, a dire sign to Paul, who knew that it can be the body’s last act before death.
Kneeling by the 3-year-old boy, former Southside firefighter Roy Neely had already started CPR. Paul announced she was a pediatric nurse and took over the breathing portion of the child’s CPR.
She could see that Neely had been getting air in the boy’s belly rather than the lungs so she tilted his head back and instructing a woman, who identified herself as a dialysis nurse, to continue the chest compressions with one hand, standard practice for a child.
She could taste vomit in the boy’s mouth, another bad sign.
Time slowed.
“When you’re doing CPR, a minute is like an hour,” she said.
Paul remembers thinking about being a nurse and about being a mother. Then, with her face pressed against his, she heard him moan.
“I gave him more breaths and he opened his eyes. They rolled in the back of his head. The (dialysis nurse) said, ‘He’s got a pulse.’”
She turned the boy’s head to his side in case he vomited, but he didn’t. Then the lifeguards arrived. They had been checking on another individual north of the north beach jetties, according to the Tybee Ocean Rescue incident report filed that day.
The guards put an oxygen mask on the child and drove him on their mule to the EMTs waiting at the parking lot and an ambulance whisked him away.
Like that, the incident was over. She didn’t know the boy’s name or the mother’s name or even the names of the other rescuers.
“I went and washed my face off,” Paul said. “Then I got all choked up. People were coming up saying, ‘You’re my hero.’”
She shrugs that label off. She was doing what she was trained to do as a nurse, though in her 10 years of working on the children’s floor at Candler, she had only had to perform CPR about three times.
When kids get that sick they’re transferred to Memorial’s intensive care unit, she said.
The next day she awoke feeling like she’d run a marathon, a result of the adrenaline that coursed through her body, she thinks. She still didn’t know if the boy was OK.
“The nurse in me was thinking everything could go wrong after a near drowning,” she said. She called Memorial and explained that she was a nurse involved in resuscitating a 3-year-old boy at Tybee the day before. Was the boy there and was he going to recover?
Because of privacy laws, the nurse who answered couldn’t give out any specific information, but she did something even better. She handed over the phone to the boy’s mother.
“She was already choked up,” Paul said. She said ‘Thank you so much you saved my little boy’s life.’”
The boy’s mom turned the phone over to the little boy, whose name is Richard.
“Thank you,” he said. “I love you.”
Paul plans to help organize a CPR training, including pediatric CPR, soon.
Julie Anderson Paul knew something was desperately wrong from the tone of the other mother’s voice. The 34-year-old nurse had just settled back into her beach chair after a walk on Tybee’s north end when she heard the unmistakable sound of panic.
“Help my son. Oh please, please, please.”
The possibilities raced through Paul’s mind as she pounded to the surf: seizure, shark bite or drowning.
She saw the toddler’s face, blue beneath his summer buzz cut. A swim diaper had been pulled down revealing he’d soiled himself, a dire sign to Paul, who knew that it can be the body’s last act before death.
Kneeling by the 3-year-old boy, former Southside firefighter Roy Neely had already started CPR. Paul announced she was a pediatric nurse and took over the breathing portion of the child’s CPR.
She could see that Neely had been getting air in the boy’s belly rather than the lungs so she tilted his head back and instructing a woman, who identified herself as a dialysis nurse, to continue the chest compressions with one hand, standard practice for a child.
She could taste vomit in the boy’s mouth, another bad sign.
Time slowed.
“When you’re doing CPR, a minute is like an hour,” she said.
Paul remembers thinking about being a nurse and about being a mother. Then, with her face pressed against his, she heard him moan.
“I gave him more breaths and he opened his eyes. They rolled in the back of his head. The (dialysis nurse) said, ‘He’s got a pulse.’”
She turned the boy’s head to his side in case he vomited, but he didn’t. Then the lifeguards arrived. They had been checking on another individual north of the north beach jetties, according to the Tybee Ocean Rescue incident report filed that day.
The guards put an oxygen mask on the child and drove him on their mule to the EMTs waiting at the parking lot and an ambulance whisked him away.
Like that, the incident was over. She didn’t know the boy’s name or the mother’s name or even the names of the other rescuers.
“I went and washed my face off,” Paul said. “Then I got all choked up. People were coming up saying, ‘You’re my hero.’”
She shrugs that label off. She was doing what she was trained to do as a nurse, though in her 10 years of working on the children’s floor at Candler, she had only had to perform CPR about three times.
When kids get that sick they’re transferred to Memorial’s intensive care unit, she said.
The next day she awoke feeling like she’d run a marathon, a result of the adrenaline that coursed through her body, she thinks. She still didn’t know if the boy was OK.
“The nurse in me was thinking everything could go wrong after a near drowning,” she said. She called Memorial and explained that she was a nurse involved in resuscitating a 3-year-old boy at Tybee the day before. Was the boy there and was he going to recover?
Because of privacy laws, the nurse who answered couldn’t give out any specific information, but she did something even better. She handed over the phone to the boy’s mother.
“She was already choked up,” Paul said. She said ‘Thank you so much you saved my little boy’s life.’”
The boy’s mom turned the phone over to the little boy, whose name is Richard.
“Thank you,” he said. “I love you.”
Paul plans to help organize a CPR training, including pediatric CPR, soon.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Why are the survival numbers different?
I've had several people ask me why they keep seeing different numbers for survival percentages.
Here's the heart of the problem:
- It all depends upon what you mean by survival. In days gone by - and for very good reasons in the modern age - 'survival' meant the "return of spontaneous circulation" (Come on, folks, couldn't we just say the victim got his or her pulse back?)
- Unfortunately, getting your pulse back doesn't always leave you at the same station. The difference is your CPC score:
- CPC = 1 means you have no significant neurological deficit.
- CPC = 2 means you are able to perform the activities of daily living, perhaps with some minimal accomodation.
- CPC = 3 means you have some severe neurological deficit that interferes to varying degrees with your ability to perform the activities of daily living.
- CPC = 4 means you are in a coma.
- If you are measuring survival in terms of getting a pulse back, you include all CPC levels.
• If you are measureing survival in terms of surviving - i.e., being able to perform the activities of daily living, you include on victims who are at CPR levels 1 & 2.
• If you measure 'getting your pulse back' you will find that 9/6% of cardiac arrest victims in the CARES database do so. If you measure 'being able to perform the activities of daily living' you will get a survival number closer to 6.5%.
Be Annoying: It could save a life
The CDC's publication of five years of CARES data underscores the importance of time.
On a sample of 31,583 cardiac arrest victims, a Bystander applied the AED only 3.7% of the time, and the 911 Responder applied the AED the other 96.7% of the time. Twenty-three percent of the people to whom a Bystander applied an AED survived, and nine percent of the people to whom the 911 Responder applied the AED survived.
This doesn't mean that Bystanders are two and a half times better at applying AEDs. It means that the Bystander was able to get an AED on the victim sooner, if there were one there. (These numbers won't tie exactly to the CARES ROSC data because they have been adjusted to eliminate the victims who didn't die but who weren't independently able to perform the activities of daily living after the incident.)
Why did the Bystander only apply the AED in 3.7% of the cases? The most likely reason is that there wasn't an AED near the scene of the cardiac arrest. Other possible reasons are the AED was too far away, and the Bystander was alone, performing CPR, or the bystander didn't know how to use an AED. I'll bet there was at least one case in the database where there was a clearly-marked AED in a case within 20 feet of the arrest, and the Bystander was too freaked out by what was going on to recognize it.
So what does this have to do with being annoying? Don't worry about how uncomfortable you might feel doing this - it won't be as uncomfortable as a colonoscopy - every time you walk into a store, ask the store personnel where their AED is. Ask the editor in chief of your local newspaper to publish a list of the public places where there isn't a public-access AED. Call the local TV and radio stations and get them on the case. And get your friends and family to do the same. and please don't assume someone else will do this: it's the cumulative effect of a lot of us asking that will get the job done.
Yes, there is a lot more we all could do, but let's just all focus on being annoying from now through the end of October: October is Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness month...and that would be a really good month to get an AED for your home, if you can. That's where two out of three arrests happen.
Check back in a day or so - the next posting will take some of the mystery out of AED details.
On a sample of 31,583 cardiac arrest victims, a Bystander applied the AED only 3.7% of the time, and the 911 Responder applied the AED the other 96.7% of the time. Twenty-three percent of the people to whom a Bystander applied an AED survived, and nine percent of the people to whom the 911 Responder applied the AED survived.
This doesn't mean that Bystanders are two and a half times better at applying AEDs. It means that the Bystander was able to get an AED on the victim sooner, if there were one there. (These numbers won't tie exactly to the CARES ROSC data because they have been adjusted to eliminate the victims who didn't die but who weren't independently able to perform the activities of daily living after the incident.)
Why did the Bystander only apply the AED in 3.7% of the cases? The most likely reason is that there wasn't an AED near the scene of the cardiac arrest. Other possible reasons are the AED was too far away, and the Bystander was alone, performing CPR, or the bystander didn't know how to use an AED. I'll bet there was at least one case in the database where there was a clearly-marked AED in a case within 20 feet of the arrest, and the Bystander was too freaked out by what was going on to recognize it.
So what does this have to do with being annoying? Don't worry about how uncomfortable you might feel doing this - it won't be as uncomfortable as a colonoscopy - every time you walk into a store, ask the store personnel where their AED is. Ask the editor in chief of your local newspaper to publish a list of the public places where there isn't a public-access AED. Call the local TV and radio stations and get them on the case. And get your friends and family to do the same. and please don't assume someone else will do this: it's the cumulative effect of a lot of us asking that will get the job done.
Yes, there is a lot more we all could do, but let's just all focus on being annoying from now through the end of October: October is Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness month...and that would be a really good month to get an AED for your home, if you can. That's where two out of three arrests happen.
Check back in a day or so - the next posting will take some of the mystery out of AED details.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Marin moms use CPR at party to revive man who was clinically dead
By Jessica Bernstein-Wax
Marin Independent Journal
Posted: 09/23/2011 11:09:37 AM PDT
Updated: 09/23/2011 11:09:38 AM PDT
Two Marin moms are still reeling after they saved a San Francisco man's life last weekend using CPR techniques they learned as children. On Sunday afternoon, San Rafael resident Jennifer Ani and San Anselmo resident Michal "Miki" Goralsky were at a party in Ross for first-grade students at the Brandeis Hillel Day School when parent Mike Ryan collapsed and turned purple.
"We were all outside, and it was time for the piñata and all the kids were in line," Ani said. "I was about 10 feet from him and his eyes rolled back in his head and his knees buckled and he fell to the ground."
After a few moments of chaos, Goralsky began administering compressions to Ryan's chest and Ani performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The older brother of one of the first-graders whisked all of the small children to another part of the property.
Paramedics arrived several minutes later and took Ryan to Marin General Hospital, where doctors told him he had suffered a heart attack and had been clinically dead for a short time.
Ryan, a 51-year-old diabetic who had no previous problems with his heart, underwent quadruple bypass surgery Thursday morning and is doing well, said his wife, Hagit Glickman.
"CPR not only saved his life but brought him back to life ... with no damage from the heart attack due to how quickly the women acted and how well they did what they did," Glickman said.
Dr. Brian Strunk, chief of cardiology at Marin General, said Ryan had blockages in all three of his arteries and would have died or ended up in a vegetative state without CPR.
Strunk emphasized the need for lay people to take CPR classes, saying every minute after a heart attack is critical and emergency personnel rarely get to the patient immediately.
"Without those two ladies doing the CPR, he would have been brain dead," Strunk said. "As it is, his head is completely intact, and they saved his heart enough."
With surgery, Ryan will be able to lead a normal life, he added.
Ryan told the Independent Journal on Wednesday that he remembered falling and then returning to consciousness from a strange, dream-like state.
"They're wonder women that saved my life," said Ryan, chairman of the Executive Impact Group, which advises companies on business strategy and development.
The experience made such a profound impression on Ani, Goralsky and other Brandeis parents that a group of first-grade families are planning to take a CPR class together.
"The lesson here for me is that you cannot wait and think that somebody else will do it -- you need to act," Goralsky said.
A recent American Red Cross survey found that one in four people have been in a situation in which someone required CPR, said Cynthia Shaw, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross' Bay Area chapter.
"You never know when you'll need to respond to an emergency," Shaw said. "You never know when you're going to see somebody in front of you collapse with a heart attack."
With proper training, everyday people have the power to stabilize a patient while waiting for emergency personnel to arrive, potentially saving a life, she said.
Ani and Goralsky didn't know Ryan and Glickman before the birthday party, but now all four parents say they're eager to spend time together. "I expect to live until at least 80 or 100, and we'll keep Jennifer and Miki in our lives,"
Ryan said. "My birthday's now Sept. 18 instead of Jan. 19. It's a whole new life."
Two Marin moms are still reeling after they saved a San Francisco man's life last weekend using CPR techniques they learned as children. On Sunday afternoon, San Rafael resident Jennifer Ani and San Anselmo resident Michal "Miki" Goralsky were at a party in Ross for first-grade students at the Brandeis Hillel Day School when parent Mike Ryan collapsed and turned purple.
"We were all outside, and it was time for the piñata and all the kids were in line," Ani said. "I was about 10 feet from him and his eyes rolled back in his head and his knees buckled and he fell to the ground."
After a few moments of chaos, Goralsky began administering compressions to Ryan's chest and Ani performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The older brother of one of the first-graders whisked all of the small children to another part of the property.
Paramedics arrived several minutes later and took Ryan to Marin General Hospital, where doctors told him he had suffered a heart attack and had been clinically dead for a short time.
Ryan, a 51-year-old diabetic who had no previous problems with his heart, underwent quadruple bypass surgery Thursday morning and is doing well, said his wife, Hagit Glickman.
"CPR not only saved his life but brought him back to life ... with no damage from the heart attack due to how quickly the women acted and how well they did what they did," Glickman said.
Dr. Brian Strunk, chief of cardiology at Marin General, said Ryan had blockages in all three of his arteries and would have died or ended up in a vegetative state without CPR.
Strunk emphasized the need for lay people to take CPR classes, saying every minute after a heart attack is critical and emergency personnel rarely get to the patient immediately.
"Without those two ladies doing the CPR, he would have been brain dead," Strunk said. "As it is, his head is completely intact, and they saved his heart enough."
With surgery, Ryan will be able to lead a normal life, he added.
Ryan told the Independent Journal on Wednesday that he remembered falling and then returning to consciousness from a strange, dream-like state.
"They're wonder women that saved my life," said Ryan, chairman of the Executive Impact Group, which advises companies on business strategy and development.
The experience made such a profound impression on Ani, Goralsky and other Brandeis parents that a group of first-grade families are planning to take a CPR class together.
"The lesson here for me is that you cannot wait and think that somebody else will do it -- you need to act," Goralsky said.
A recent American Red Cross survey found that one in four people have been in a situation in which someone required CPR, said Cynthia Shaw, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross' Bay Area chapter.
"You never know when you'll need to respond to an emergency," Shaw said. "You never know when you're going to see somebody in front of you collapse with a heart attack."
With proper training, everyday people have the power to stabilize a patient while waiting for emergency personnel to arrive, potentially saving a life, she said.
Ani and Goralsky didn't know Ryan and Glickman before the birthday party, but now all four parents say they're eager to spend time together. "I expect to live until at least 80 or 100, and we'll keep Jennifer and Miki in our lives,"
Ryan said. "My birthday's now Sept. 18 instead of Jan. 19. It's a whole new life."
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Accuracy makes a difference.
The story below ran under the headline "Azle Student Athlete Hurt on the Field"
I would argue that the headline "Azie Student Athlete died on field, saved by CPR & AED" not only would be more accurate, but would be more likely to cause a reader to consider making sure that all the schools in their area had trained personnel and READY ACCESS TO AN AED AT EVERY ATHLETIC CONTEST AND PRACTICE.
Bob
Azle Student Athlete Hurt on the Field
Published : Tuesday, 20 Sep 2011, 9:16 PM CDT FOX 4 News myfoxdfw.com Web Team
AZLE, Texas - A seventh grade football player from Azle Junior High School stopped breathing after a violent collision during a game Tuesday night.
It happened at the school. He was hit on the field and stopped breathing.
The school district said trainers and a school nurse performed CPR and used a portable defibrillator on the boy until paramedics arrived. He started breathing again.
The boy was conscious and talking when he was flown by air ambulance to a Fort Worth hospital, the district said. Stay tuned to myFOXdfw.com and FOX 4 News for updates on this story.
Read more on myFOXdfw.com: http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/news/education/092011-azle-student-athlete-hurt-on-the-field#ixzz1YZe5IEW2
I would argue that the headline "Azie Student Athlete died on field, saved by CPR & AED" not only would be more accurate, but would be more likely to cause a reader to consider making sure that all the schools in their area had trained personnel and READY ACCESS TO AN AED AT EVERY ATHLETIC CONTEST AND PRACTICE.
Bob
Azle Student Athlete Hurt on the Field
Published : Tuesday, 20 Sep 2011, 9:16 PM CDT FOX 4 News myfoxdfw.com Web Team
AZLE, Texas - A seventh grade football player from Azle Junior High School stopped breathing after a violent collision during a game Tuesday night.
It happened at the school. He was hit on the field and stopped breathing.
The school district said trainers and a school nurse performed CPR and used a portable defibrillator on the boy until paramedics arrived. He started breathing again.
The boy was conscious and talking when he was flown by air ambulance to a Fort Worth hospital, the district said. Stay tuned to myFOXdfw.com and FOX 4 News for updates on this story.
Read more on myFOXdfw.com: http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/news/education/092011-azle-student-athlete-hurt-on-the-field#ixzz1YZe5IEW2
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