A 36-year-old music critic for the Houston Press is hospitalized at Memorial Hermann after suffering a heart attack Friday morning at a Metro train station.
Journalist Chris Gray was in a medically induced coma, according to a post on his Facebook page.
The Metropolitan Transit Authority reported on Friday morning that service was briefly interrupted after a patron suffered a heart attack about 9:15 a.m. at the Ensemble Theatre platform in the 3500 block of Main Steet.
The patient was transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital in serious condition, Metro said.
Before Houston Fire Department paramedics arrived, a bystander performed CPR, the Houston Press reported.
Meanwhile, friends, family and co-workers were unsure of Gray's whereabouts. Early Friday afternoon, messages on social media indicated that Gray's co-workers were trying to find him.
One of his friends read about the Metro happening, and called Memorial Hermann to confirm that Gray was a patient there.
Chronicle music critic Andrew Dansby said Gray has a passion for live music.
"He's committed to live music in Houston in a manner without parallel," Dansby said.
carol.christian@chron.com
[Bloger's note: If Chris Gray gets out of the hospital with major brain functions intact, the credit goes to the Bystander. If he doesn't, the Bystander still gets kudos for trying - it can't hurt, and it has a 2/3 chance of helping. Way to go, Bystander!]
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
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Roy Exum: Hooray For Vanderbilt
Roy Exum: Hooray For Vanderbilt
by Roy Exum
posted October 29, 2011
Jim Askew, a 1956 graduate of Vanderbilt, is a longtime season ticket holder and desperately wants to watch his Commodores play Arkansas this afternoon, but his wife won’t let him. Before you go thinking that Mrs. Askew is a meanie, you should know that the last Vandy football game almost took Jim’s life.
Vanderbilt, so improved under new coach James Franklin, was in the midst of an exciting win over Army last week when Askew “began to feel weak. And from that point, I don’t know what happened,” he said.
The simple truth is he suffered a heart attack and he never saw it coming. He’d moved from his customary seats to sit high in the end zone early in the third quarter so he could better see the whipping the Commodores were putting on Army when suddenly he slumped over.
He remembers that Vandy had the ball at the 35 and the Commodores were leading, 23-6, at the time, but what he doesn’t recall were nearby fans racing to his side, beginning CPR and yelling for help. It took only seconds before Vanderbilt’s much-acclaimed LifeFlight Event Medicine team raced 70 rows up Vanderbilt Stadium and used a portable defibrillator to restore his breathing.
As a matter of fact, by the time they got to the bottom of the stairs Jim, age 77, was awake and wanted to know if Vanderbilt had scored on the drive. Assured the Commodores were doing fine, he was rushed to the nearby Vanderbilt Medical Center, stabilized, and told the Commodores had indeed won the game, the 44-21 score giving VU a commendable 4-2 record.
“It was such a great job on the behalf of everybody,” said Chad Hollingsworth, the paramedic who got the distress call. “This goes to show how important public-access AEDs are. What made this call so successful is it was a concerted effort: getting to the patient early, bystander CPR and early defibrillation with an AED on site. “We saved this person’s life with the most basic tools that we and the public have access to, and they were used properly and early,” he said, mindful of the fact Askew was at the hospital in just 15 minutes after the incident.
Early this week Vanderbilt cardiologists installed an implantable defibrillator and gave Jim permission to attend today’s game but his wife is having none of it. Apparently she wants to be sure the thing is working before the next home game against Kentucky on Nov. 12.
Other Vanderbilt football officials moved with lightning speed early this week after an embarrassing turn of events happened after the Army game. When Vandy players serenaded the crowd with the VU alma mater, the Army players and cheerleaders stood quietly. But when the Army players and cheerleaders took their turn, the Vandy players left the field and loud music over the public-address system drowned out the Army band.
Suffice it to say Vanderbilt’s football and basketball teams will have a new PA announcer this week. In addition, the athletic department issued the following letter on Oct. 25:
“To all of the men and women who attend and work at the United States Military Academy, their families, all graduates of USMA and their fans:
“We at Vanderbilt University would like to publicly offer our sincere apology for the events that occurred at the conclusion of our recent football game. While our football team performed our alma mater with our fans and band, the Black Knights, their band and cheerleaders, as well as their fans, stood at attention and honored us as would a worthy foe. However, after we were finished and the Black Knights began to perform their alma mater, our football team left the field and our loudspeaker blasted music that had the result of drowning out the performing of your alma mater.
“While there was no intention to be disrespectful, this was wrong and was a huge mistake on our part. There is no excuse for this oversight; we were just wrong and we are truly sorry.
“Make no mistake, the people at Vanderbilt University, our alumni and fans respect all that you do and have done for this nation. We are honored by what you stand for and we understand that this was not the way you should have been treated.
“On behalf of Vanderbilt University, please accept our apology for this mistake and oversight of your important protocol. You deserved better and we have learned from our mistake. We request your forgiveness.
Respectfully, Vanderbilt University
Jim Askew, a 1956 graduate of Vanderbilt, is a longtime season ticket holder and desperately wants to watch his Commodores play Arkansas this afternoon, but his wife won’t let him. Before you go thinking that Mrs. Askew is a meanie, you should know that the last Vandy football game almost took Jim’s life.
Vanderbilt, so improved under new coach James Franklin, was in the midst of an exciting win over Army last week when Askew “began to feel weak. And from that point, I don’t know what happened,” he said.
The simple truth is he suffered a heart attack and he never saw it coming. He’d moved from his customary seats to sit high in the end zone early in the third quarter so he could better see the whipping the Commodores were putting on Army when suddenly he slumped over.
He remembers that Vandy had the ball at the 35 and the Commodores were leading, 23-6, at the time, but what he doesn’t recall were nearby fans racing to his side, beginning CPR and yelling for help. It took only seconds before Vanderbilt’s much-acclaimed LifeFlight Event Medicine team raced 70 rows up Vanderbilt Stadium and used a portable defibrillator to restore his breathing.
As a matter of fact, by the time they got to the bottom of the stairs Jim, age 77, was awake and wanted to know if Vanderbilt had scored on the drive. Assured the Commodores were doing fine, he was rushed to the nearby Vanderbilt Medical Center, stabilized, and told the Commodores had indeed won the game, the 44-21 score giving VU a commendable 4-2 record.
“It was such a great job on the behalf of everybody,” said Chad Hollingsworth, the paramedic who got the distress call. “This goes to show how important public-access AEDs are. What made this call so successful is it was a concerted effort: getting to the patient early, bystander CPR and early defibrillation with an AED on site. “We saved this person’s life with the most basic tools that we and the public have access to, and they were used properly and early,” he said, mindful of the fact Askew was at the hospital in just 15 minutes after the incident.
Early this week Vanderbilt cardiologists installed an implantable defibrillator and gave Jim permission to attend today’s game but his wife is having none of it. Apparently she wants to be sure the thing is working before the next home game against Kentucky on Nov. 12.
Other Vanderbilt football officials moved with lightning speed early this week after an embarrassing turn of events happened after the Army game. When Vandy players serenaded the crowd with the VU alma mater, the Army players and cheerleaders stood quietly. But when the Army players and cheerleaders took their turn, the Vandy players left the field and loud music over the public-address system drowned out the Army band.
Suffice it to say Vanderbilt’s football and basketball teams will have a new PA announcer this week. In addition, the athletic department issued the following letter on Oct. 25:
“To all of the men and women who attend and work at the United States Military Academy, their families, all graduates of USMA and their fans:
“We at Vanderbilt University would like to publicly offer our sincere apology for the events that occurred at the conclusion of our recent football game. While our football team performed our alma mater with our fans and band, the Black Knights, their band and cheerleaders, as well as their fans, stood at attention and honored us as would a worthy foe. However, after we were finished and the Black Knights began to perform their alma mater, our football team left the field and our loudspeaker blasted music that had the result of drowning out the performing of your alma mater.
“While there was no intention to be disrespectful, this was wrong and was a huge mistake on our part. There is no excuse for this oversight; we were just wrong and we are truly sorry.
“Make no mistake, the people at Vanderbilt University, our alumni and fans respect all that you do and have done for this nation. We are honored by what you stand for and we understand that this was not the way you should have been treated.
“On behalf of Vanderbilt University, please accept our apology for this mistake and oversight of your important protocol. You deserved better and we have learned from our mistake. We request your forgiveness.
Respectfully, Vanderbilt University
Sp. Fork first-grade hero saves classmate whose heart stopped .
Hilary M. Hendricks - Correspondent | Posted: Saturday, October 15, 2011 12:35 am
Read more: http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/south/spanish-fork/article_fd165552-77f0-5d27-aee7-4af4b21949ac.html#ixzz1cBRt9qML
SPANISH FORK -- One minute he was playing with his friends at the start of PE class. The next minute, 6-year-old Logan Powell was lying unconscious and his friend was running to the teacher for help. Powell's heart and breathing had stopped.
Hallie Witt, also age 6, said her class was playing steal the flag outside when she noticed Powell lying face down on the grass. "So then I checked on him. When I rolled him over he did a gasp and I saw purple lips and slobber."
Witt knew to look for purple lips because her mom Katrina Witt had been ill over the summer and showed her daughters how to call for help should her oxygen levels drop.
Asking another friend to stay with Powell, Witt ran to the PE teacher.
"I grabbed onto her arm and I shaked her," Witt remembered. "I knew that would work because I do it to my mom a lot. I said, 'Logan's lying down on the floor and he's fainting.' "
Minutes later, Witt and her classmates were shepherded back inside the school. But their teacher, Jennifer Jolley, Powell's aunt, allowed Witt to stand by the window and watch the police and medical team arrive.
"I didn't think he would be OK," Witt said.
Lt. Steve Adams of the Spanish Fork Police Department said the 9-1-1 call from East Meadows Elementary School came at 11:30 a.m. Thursday. "There were officers already in the area, and the first arrived at the two-minute mark," about half the time an emergency response usually takes, Adams said.
The officer found three to four school personnel surrounding the boy on the grass. Two secretaries had begun CPR, according to school personnel.
Three minutes after the 9-1-1 call, another officer arrived with an automated external defibrillator, a medical device that can diagnose heart malfunction and shock the heart back into rhythm.
"The AED confirmed that a shock was needed, so that was administered," Adams said. "The officers then continued CPR until the highly trained ambulance personnel arrived."
Powell was transported first to Mountain View Hospital in Payson and then by helicopter to Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City. Doctors diagnosed him with Long QT syndrome, a genetic condition in which the heart races and then stops.
Powell's mother Laura Powell said that "before he leaves the hospital, he will have a tiny defibrillator placed in his chest. That will get his heart started right away if it stops again." Testing is underway to determine if his six siblings may have the condition as well.
Laura Powell said the doctors believe her son was not out of oxygen for very long because he's "improved so much faster than anyone expected." Although still in the pediatric intensive care unit, as of Friday night Powell was "talking, looking around, imagining" and the ventilator had been removed, said Laura Powell. "He's going to live and be fine."
To Powell's parents, the timing of the incident was "absolutely amazing," Laura Powell said. "If he had been playing in his room at home or asleep in the middle of the night when his heart stopped, we would have lost him."
The family credits Witt, as well as school and emergency personnel and the AED, with saving their son's life. "He's here because Hallie knew what to do," Laura Powell said. "She is truly a hero."
Lana Hiskey, spokeswoman for Nebo School District, said, "We are thrilled with how well our staff and the emergency personnel responded." Adams said of the rescue effort, "We're so grateful to arrive on a scene where people there are doing the right thing. The staff at East Meadows were appropriately dealing with the young man. From the location of the responding officers and the AED to the great service of the medical personnel, so many things were right in line to make this a perfect outcome."
Given the importance of immediate AED administration for victims of heart failure, last month the Nebo School District board approved funding for an AED in every school, with more than one in each high school. District personnel tested AED models to ensure the design they purchased would be optimally user friendly, Hiskey said. "You open the package and audio instructions tell you just what to do."
Laura Powell said that her son's experience has helped the school district make distributing the devices a priority, as well as training to go with them. "This can potentially save someone else's life, too," she said.
To read more about efforts to bring defibrillator awareness and training to communities, visit http://www.sads.org.
Read more: http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/south/spanish-fork/article_fd165552-77f0-5d27-aee7-4af4b21949ac.html#ixzz1cBRXBSVN
SPANISH FORK -- One minute he was playing with his friends at the start of PE class. The next minute, 6-year-old Logan Powell was lying unconscious and his friend was running to the teacher for help. Powell's heart and breathing had stopped.
Hallie Witt, also age 6, said her class was playing steal the flag outside when she noticed Powell lying face down on the grass. "So then I checked on him. When I rolled him over he did a gasp and I saw purple lips and slobber."
Witt knew to look for purple lips because her mom Katrina Witt had been ill over the summer and showed her daughters how to call for help should her oxygen levels drop.
Asking another friend to stay with Powell, Witt ran to the PE teacher.
"I grabbed onto her arm and I shaked her," Witt remembered. "I knew that would work because I do it to my mom a lot. I said, 'Logan's lying down on the floor and he's fainting.' "
Minutes later, Witt and her classmates were shepherded back inside the school. But their teacher, Jennifer Jolley, Powell's aunt, allowed Witt to stand by the window and watch the police and medical team arrive.
"I didn't think he would be OK," Witt said.
Lt. Steve Adams of the Spanish Fork Police Department said the 9-1-1 call from East Meadows Elementary School came at 11:30 a.m. Thursday. "There were officers already in the area, and the first arrived at the two-minute mark," about half the time an emergency response usually takes, Adams said.
The officer found three to four school personnel surrounding the boy on the grass. Two secretaries had begun CPR, according to school personnel.
Three minutes after the 9-1-1 call, another officer arrived with an automated external defibrillator, a medical device that can diagnose heart malfunction and shock the heart back into rhythm.
"The AED confirmed that a shock was needed, so that was administered," Adams said. "The officers then continued CPR until the highly trained ambulance personnel arrived."
Powell was transported first to Mountain View Hospital in Payson and then by helicopter to Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City. Doctors diagnosed him with Long QT syndrome, a genetic condition in which the heart races and then stops.
Powell's mother Laura Powell said that "before he leaves the hospital, he will have a tiny defibrillator placed in his chest. That will get his heart started right away if it stops again." Testing is underway to determine if his six siblings may have the condition as well.
Laura Powell said the doctors believe her son was not out of oxygen for very long because he's "improved so much faster than anyone expected." Although still in the pediatric intensive care unit, as of Friday night Powell was "talking, looking around, imagining" and the ventilator had been removed, said Laura Powell. "He's going to live and be fine."
To Powell's parents, the timing of the incident was "absolutely amazing," Laura Powell said. "If he had been playing in his room at home or asleep in the middle of the night when his heart stopped, we would have lost him."
The family credits Witt, as well as school and emergency personnel and the AED, with saving their son's life. "He's here because Hallie knew what to do," Laura Powell said. "She is truly a hero."
Lana Hiskey, spokeswoman for Nebo School District, said, "We are thrilled with how well our staff and the emergency personnel responded." Adams said of the rescue effort, "We're so grateful to arrive on a scene where people there are doing the right thing. The staff at East Meadows were appropriately dealing with the young man. From the location of the responding officers and the AED to the great service of the medical personnel, so many things were right in line to make this a perfect outcome."
Given the importance of immediate AED administration for victims of heart failure, last month the Nebo School District board approved funding for an AED in every school, with more than one in each high school. District personnel tested AED models to ensure the design they purchased would be optimally user friendly, Hiskey said. "You open the package and audio instructions tell you just what to do."
Laura Powell said that her son's experience has helped the school district make distributing the devices a priority, as well as training to go with them. "This can potentially save someone else's life, too," she said.
To read more about efforts to bring defibrillator awareness and training to communities, visit http://www.sads.org.
Read more: http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/south/spanish-fork/article_fd165552-77f0-5d27-aee7-4af4b21949ac.html#ixzz1cBRXBSVN
Thursday, October 27, 2011
And that's not assuming that there is an AED nearby!
Thursday, October 27, 2011 - 12:33 PM
By Jeff Henson
Grande Prairie
Research shows that someone suffering from cardiac arrest is four times more likely to survive if a bystander performs CPR before emergency crews arrive.
However, the same stats show it is not performed in 85 percent of cases.
STARS spokesperson Cam Heke says their organization is encouraging everyone to learn the procedure.
"Affective CPR should be hard and fast, and obviously the better you perform it, the better the possible chance of surviving cardiac arrest as well as the long term outcome for that patient. So we are really encouraging the public to go and take a course."
Heke adds you should also encourage your neighbours to learn CPR.
He says the more people that know how to do CPR or how to use an automated external defibrilator betters your chances of surviving a medical emergency.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Bystander CPR, AED Help Save Man At Mass. YMCA
ALEX BLOOM
THE EAGLE-TRIBUNE, NORTH ANDOVER, MASS.
Dan Grecoe celebrated his 43rd birthday last week, and he credits three alert bystanders and a defibrillator with helping him reach the date. Oct. 25--ANDOVER -- Dan Grecoe celebrated his 43rd birthday last week, and he credits three alert bystanders and a defibrillator with helping him reach the date.
Grecoe, an Andover resident who lives with his wife Lisa and three daughters, went into sudden cardiac arrest on the morning of Sept. 19 while exercising at the Andover/North Andover YMCA.
For about 10 minutes, retired Andover firefighter Richard Hartman and school nurse Rita Casper worked together to perform CPR on Grecoe while YMCA employee Maura Eisenhood used an automatic external defibrillator to help him survive while the paramedics were en route.
"Without Maura and Rita and Richard and this device, I wouldn't be here with my daughters to celebrate," Grecoe said, referring to the automatic external defibrillator.
Grecoe was working out at the gym with his friend Paul Davies early on the morning of Sept. 19. He had recently recovered from knee surgery -- having his anterior cruciate ligament replaced following a skiing injury -- and was given the OK to start running.
He started with the treadmill, running for about six or seven minutes, and said he felt totally winded.
"I chalked that up for not being able to run because of the knee," Grecoe said.
Grecoe and Davies then switched to the elliptical machines. After about five minutes on the machine, Grecoe started to feel faint.
"I said to (Davies), 'I'm feeling a little dizzy,' and that was it," Grecoe said. "The lights went out."
Eisenhood, assistant to the sports director at the YMCA and a North Andover resident, said she noticed Grecoe at the gym that morning because he had been using a machine normally taken by another gym regular.
Eisenhood had been wiping down machines when she noticed commotion in his direction. She said when she walked over that she noticed Grecoe was clenching his hands.
"We realized that he was kind of struggling to breathe," Eisenhood said. "As he was on his side, Rita had come over and said, 'I'm a registered nurse, I can help.'"
The two sent some other people in the gym to call 911. Hartman, the former deputy chief for the Andover Fire Department, stepped forward to help as well.
Casper, the director of nurses for Andover Public Schools, gave chest compressions while Hartman applied rescue breaths. Eisenhood opened up the defibrillator.
"It tells you what to do," Eisenhood said. "We followed the directions."
Eisenhood, 43, has worked at the YMCA branch for six years and has been certified in first aid since high school. She had CPR re-certification at the start of the summer.
"I think I was at ease because I had been trained," Eisenhood said. "I literally had my hands on the same device months before."
She applied electric shocks to Grecoe three times while the group worked to keep him alive. Rescue crews arrived and took Grecoe to Lawrence General Hospital, where he has his first memories waking up.
"There's really no words that can express the gratitude that I have to everyone who came to my aid, from the people at my gym to everybody in Ambulance 1 who responded," Grecoe said.
Now recovering, Grecoe, a software engineer, has been cleared by his doctors to start walking. He said he hopes to run a 5K race in the future.
Eisenhood said she felt like circumstances aligned for the three to come to Grecoe's rescue -- saving him from a life-threatening situation.
"It just seemed like everything was lined up," Eisenhood said. "You were at the gym at the right time, Rita was right there, Richard was right there."
Copyright 2011 - The Eagle-Tribune, North Andover, Mass.
Dan Grecoe celebrated his 43rd birthday last week, and he credits three alert bystanders and a defibrillator with helping him reach the date. Oct. 25--ANDOVER -- Dan Grecoe celebrated his 43rd birthday last week, and he credits three alert bystanders and a defibrillator with helping him reach the date.
Grecoe, an Andover resident who lives with his wife Lisa and three daughters, went into sudden cardiac arrest on the morning of Sept. 19 while exercising at the Andover/North Andover YMCA.
For about 10 minutes, retired Andover firefighter Richard Hartman and school nurse Rita Casper worked together to perform CPR on Grecoe while YMCA employee Maura Eisenhood used an automatic external defibrillator to help him survive while the paramedics were en route.
"Without Maura and Rita and Richard and this device, I wouldn't be here with my daughters to celebrate," Grecoe said, referring to the automatic external defibrillator.
Grecoe was working out at the gym with his friend Paul Davies early on the morning of Sept. 19. He had recently recovered from knee surgery -- having his anterior cruciate ligament replaced following a skiing injury -- and was given the OK to start running.
He started with the treadmill, running for about six or seven minutes, and said he felt totally winded.
"I chalked that up for not being able to run because of the knee," Grecoe said.
Grecoe and Davies then switched to the elliptical machines. After about five minutes on the machine, Grecoe started to feel faint.
"I said to (Davies), 'I'm feeling a little dizzy,' and that was it," Grecoe said. "The lights went out."
Eisenhood, assistant to the sports director at the YMCA and a North Andover resident, said she noticed Grecoe at the gym that morning because he had been using a machine normally taken by another gym regular.
Eisenhood had been wiping down machines when she noticed commotion in his direction. She said when she walked over that she noticed Grecoe was clenching his hands.
"We realized that he was kind of struggling to breathe," Eisenhood said. "As he was on his side, Rita had come over and said, 'I'm a registered nurse, I can help.'"
The two sent some other people in the gym to call 911. Hartman, the former deputy chief for the Andover Fire Department, stepped forward to help as well.
Casper, the director of nurses for Andover Public Schools, gave chest compressions while Hartman applied rescue breaths. Eisenhood opened up the defibrillator.
"It tells you what to do," Eisenhood said. "We followed the directions."
Eisenhood, 43, has worked at the YMCA branch for six years and has been certified in first aid since high school. She had CPR re-certification at the start of the summer.
"I think I was at ease because I had been trained," Eisenhood said. "I literally had my hands on the same device months before."
She applied electric shocks to Grecoe three times while the group worked to keep him alive. Rescue crews arrived and took Grecoe to Lawrence General Hospital, where he has his first memories waking up.
"There's really no words that can express the gratitude that I have to everyone who came to my aid, from the people at my gym to everybody in Ambulance 1 who responded," Grecoe said.
Now recovering, Grecoe, a software engineer, has been cleared by his doctors to start walking. He said he hopes to run a 5K race in the future.
Eisenhood said she felt like circumstances aligned for the three to come to Grecoe's rescue -- saving him from a life-threatening situation.
"It just seemed like everything was lined up," Eisenhood said. "You were at the gym at the right time, Rita was right there, Richard was right there."
Copyright 2011 - The Eagle-Tribune, North Andover, Mass.
Seizure patient dies of cardiac arrest.
By Lauren Zimmerman - Web Producer
Monday, October 24, 2011 - 4:37pm
El Paso Channel 9 NEWS
FABENS- A Fabens High School student died this morning after suffering a seizure while at school.
Violeta Loya was rushed to Del Sol Medical center after she suffered a seizure shortly before class. The principal of Fabens High School says CPR was performed on Loya before the ambulance arrived, however she died shortly after 9:00 a.m. this morning.
According to the principal, Loya was epileptic and had three seizures prior to today, including one three weeks ago at the school's homecoming.
What's a seizure story doing in a cardiac arrest blog?
While some seizures do not interfere with breathing, others do. When a seizure does interfere with breathing, the victim can go for a prolonged period without breathing and may suffer a sudden cardiac arrest. This is also how it is that choking can lead to a sudden cardiac arrest. If you see someone seizing and who is not breathing, you need to act. You need to call 911, and if you have the training and equipment, you need to ventilate the victim. And you have to be prepared to perform CPR and defibrillate, if the victim goes into cardiac arrest. It sounds as if the school was on the ball wrt the CPR, but the story is silent regarding defibrillator usage.
El Paso Channel 9 NEWS
FABENS- A Fabens High School student died this morning after suffering a seizure while at school.
Violeta Loya was rushed to Del Sol Medical center after she suffered a seizure shortly before class. The principal of Fabens High School says CPR was performed on Loya before the ambulance arrived, however she died shortly after 9:00 a.m. this morning.
According to the principal, Loya was epileptic and had three seizures prior to today, including one three weeks ago at the school's homecoming.
What's a seizure story doing in a cardiac arrest blog?
While some seizures do not interfere with breathing, others do. When a seizure does interfere with breathing, the victim can go for a prolonged period without breathing and may suffer a sudden cardiac arrest. This is also how it is that choking can lead to a sudden cardiac arrest. If you see someone seizing and who is not breathing, you need to act. You need to call 911, and if you have the training and equipment, you need to ventilate the victim. And you have to be prepared to perform CPR and defibrillate, if the victim goes into cardiac arrest. It sounds as if the school was on the ball wrt the CPR, but the story is silent regarding defibrillator usage.
Monday, October 24, 2011
EMT student assists on life-saving emergency call
[from the Franklin News-Post]
Monday, October 24, 2011
By MORRIS STEPHENSON - Staff Writer
A Franklin County High School Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) student recently had a life-changing experience when she played a role in saving the life of a heart-attack victim.
Brittany Cook, 16, was at the Franklin County Department of Public Safety office in a study session with instructor Eric Newman when he received a "patient down" call.
Cook went with Newman to the scene of the emergency, where Dr. Charles Lane, medical director; Sherry Lane, a registered nurse and EMT; Tom Firebaugh, an EMT; and Ron Gearheart, Michael Pruitt and John Scott, paramedics, were performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on the patient.
Several minutes into the resuscitation attempt, the patient regained a pulse and started breathing on his own, according to Newman. The patient was then transported to the hospital for treatment and later released, Newman said.
"It was a very rewarding experience for all of the EMS providers," Newman said. "Brittany responded to the incident like the young professional that she is. She performed CPR like a seasoned professional. With the others providing intravenous (IV) fluids, medications and defibrillation, Brittany rotated with other members of the team providing high quality CPR for the patient," he added. "For a student's first call to result in an actual life saved is very rewarding."
Monday, October 24, 2011
By MORRIS STEPHENSON - Staff Writer
A Franklin County High School Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) student recently had a life-changing experience when she played a role in saving the life of a heart-attack victim.
Brittany Cook, 16, was at the Franklin County Department of Public Safety office in a study session with instructor Eric Newman when he received a "patient down" call.
Cook went with Newman to the scene of the emergency, where Dr. Charles Lane, medical director; Sherry Lane, a registered nurse and EMT; Tom Firebaugh, an EMT; and Ron Gearheart, Michael Pruitt and John Scott, paramedics, were performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on the patient.
Several minutes into the resuscitation attempt, the patient regained a pulse and started breathing on his own, according to Newman. The patient was then transported to the hospital for treatment and later released, Newman said.
"It was a very rewarding experience for all of the EMS providers," Newman said. "Brittany responded to the incident like the young professional that she is. She performed CPR like a seasoned professional. With the others providing intravenous (IV) fluids, medications and defibrillation, Brittany rotated with other members of the team providing high quality CPR for the patient," he added. "For a student's first call to result in an actual life saved is very rewarding."
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