Health Education Services News

High School Referee Saved

admin — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 23:11:35 +0000

Health Education Services had the privilege of arranging for the Heroes Award through the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association, San Francisco Bay Area Chapter, for those involved in the successful resuscitation of referee Mr. Pat Boland at Menlo School in Atherton, CA. Also honored was Chief Glenn Nielsen of the Atherton Police Department. Under his auspices, AEDs were given to all schools in Atherton that were interested having them. Those honored were the following:

Dr. Randy Lee

Dr. Jim Badger

Dr. Kathy Renschler

Dr. Susan Hoffman

Deborah Addicott, RN

Jon Cohen, Head Athletic Trainer

Please read the story below, written by Jon Cohen.

“On January 27th, 2009 a husband, father, high school referee, and friend was saved by an Automated External Defibrillator (AED). Nobody could have predicted the events but fortunately many people were prepared for it. This was supposed to be an evening about two rival schools participating in a high school basketball game that would help decide first place in league. The game began like any other basketball game would begin. Teams were announced, hand shakes exchanged, and the jump ball initiated the start of the game.

The game was progressing at a frenetic pace. Both teams were unable to get their offenses going, and the crowd’s cheer grew louder with each offensive and defensive trip down the court. With roughly 2 minutes to go in the first quarter, and the outcome of the game too early to call, an event occurred that silenced the excited crowd. It was not from any one play during the game, not from a great shot, nor a defensive steal.

As the referee, Pat Boland, was about to hand the basketball to a player signaling a return to play, he suddenly and unexpectedly collapsed. Time stood still for that moment. Did he trip or stumble? Will he just pop back up and play will continue? When one of the Menlo School’s basketball players motioned for help he knew something was wrong. Menlo School’s athletic trainer was the first responder onto the court followed closely by doctors and nurses from the stands. Little did Pat know that Menlo School had an emergency action plan that was not only practiced and refined just 4 months prior to his collapse on the gym floor, but also a cardiologist, emergency room doctor, and nurse who would help to save his life were in the attendance that evening.

Everything a first responder is trained to perform is tested in a matter of seconds. Call 911…Airway…Breathing…Circulation. Labored breathing. Good, the airway is clear but the seizure Pat was suffering made it difficult to maintain an airway. As medical professionals worked to maintain an airway, his pulse became weak and thready. About a minute later he lost consciousness. Doctors and nurses initiated CPR and, in a flash, Menlo School’s athletic trainer was running for the Automated External Defibrillator (AED) that was on the wall about 50 feet away.

About 30 seconds later the pads were placed onto Pat’s chest and the AED was analyzing his heart rhythm. ”Shock Advised”, was the next command from the AED. After the first shock was delivered, Pat regained consciousness momentarily but quickly went unconscious. With the pads still attached, the machine signaled for another shock. The flashing button indicated that after it’s pushed, enough electricity would be running through his chest with one goal - normalize Pat’s heart rhythm. The second shock was delivered. A moment passed that seemed like an eternity. Once again he regained consciousness.

Thirty seconds after the second shock, the paramedics arrived. Time seemed to be going at a snails pace but in reality the time from Pat’s incident occurred to the paramedics arriving was less than 5 minutes. The application of the AED pads and the first shock was less then 1:30 minutes after he lost consciousness. You can look at all the statistics, scenarios, and emergency action plans but until you have to use any of them you never fully appreciate what it means to be prepared.

A process that you practice over and over again was vindicated. The outcome was a blessing. Most importantly, everyone who was at that basketball game on January 27th, 2009 will always remember the events that occurred, Pat Boland, and one AED.”

A Doctor’s View of Life After Cardiac Arrest

admin — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:14:50 +0000

Health Education Services had the privilege of training Joe and Edie Farrell to become American Heart Association CPR instructors so that they can begin their mission.

Below is Doctor Joe Farrell’s story.

By Laura Casey
Contra Costa Times

Posted: 06/03/2009 01:00:00 AM PDT

Updated: 06/03/2009 10:06:10 AM PDT

Joseph Farrell is alive today because someone at the party where his heart stopped knew CPR. Now…

AUG. 9, 2008 was the day that Danville doctor Joseph Farrell died.

The then-56-year-old was at a memorial dinner in Rocklin when he suffered sudden cardiac arrest. Turning a blackish blue, Farrell dropped to the floor.

“I thought he was choking at first,” says his wife, Edie Farrell. But he wasn’t choking. His heart had stopped.

Talk to Joseph Farrell about the day — and you can because someone at the party knew CPR — and he will weep. If Aug. 9 were his last day on Earth, he wouldn’t ever see his daughters get married, never meet his future grandkids.

“It’s humbling,” he says. “One second you’re there then you’re gone.”

Farrell owes his life to many medical interventions that day but primarily to the track coach who performed CPR on him and to the ambulance that had an defibrillator.

He and Edie have now made it their life’s mission to teach CPR and advocate for laymen’s defibrillators, automated external defibrillators (AED), to be in every school and public building in Contra Costa County and eventually the state.

Sudden cardiac arrest is a condition where someone’s heart stops pumping blood to the body because of an electrical problem, according to the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association. It is different from a heart attack in that heart attacks are caused by blocked arteries and usually come with a symptom such as chest pain and dizziness. In the case of sudden cardiac arrest, people drop dead without warning.

“They could be walking, they could be talking and they just drop dead and that’s it,” says the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association’s Jack Grogan, who was saved after suffering cardiac arrest while visiting an airport.

Sudden cardiac arrest doesn’t just happen to people who are older or wrought with health problems. Young people, especially athletes, also die from the condition.

In fact, according to the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association, nearly 1,000 people die every day in the United States from sudden cardiac arrest, one person every two minutes — and 30 percent of them are younger than 30.

While only about 6 percent of people are saved without any intervention, the survival rate for sudden cardiac arrest with CPR and defibrillator intervention hovers around 30 percent.

When someone suffers sudden cardiac arrest, says American Heart Association spokesman Mike Jacobs, several things need to happen.

What to do

First, emergency services need to be called. Second, CPR needs to be performed to keep the heart in a rhythm so it can be defibrillated and keep blood pumping. Third, the heart needs to be shocked with a defibrillator. Then, finally, advance life support needs to be started by medical professionals.

“If you don’t do anything, their chance of survival is nil to none,” Jacobs says.

Jacobs is working to get more people trained in CPR by passing out $34.95 “CPR Anytime” kits to seventh-grade students for free; he is currently trying to find money for that program.

A few years ago, Jacobs passed out the kits —which include video instruction and a mannequin to practice pressure-only CPR on — to seventh-grade and high school students in different schools around Alameda County.

According to his research, the seventh-graders were more likely to take the kit home and show the video and the mannequin to four more people.

Teaching the teachers

His plan is to find money to get all 20,000 Alameda County seventh-graders a kit so they can teach up to 100,000 people how to do CPR.

“Then you’ll at least know what to do when somebody collapses,” Jacobs says.

Next, people like Farrell are advocating for more AEDs in the community and schools. Unlike the large defibrillators in ambulances and hospitals and on TV shows, AEDs can be the size of a salad plate and provide instructions to the user on how to operate the machine.

For example, a company like HeartSine, based out of Pennsylvania, sells devices for $1,400 that give vocal instructions at the press of a button. It instructs the user to take small pads out of the device and put them on a victim’s chest. The AED then measures the heartbeat and decides whether they need an electric shock.

Fail-safe equipment

By measuring the heart’s rhythms, AEDs make it impossible to give a shock to a person who doesn’t need it.

“And we continually remind people that you can’t hurt a dead person,” says Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association’s Grogan.

The key to helping someone, Jacobs says, is to learn how to help and pushing aside any fears of helping.

“Don’t be afraid to help. If someone’s in cardiac arrest they have nowhere to go but up,” he says.

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admin — Wed, 13 May 2009 23:42:59 +0000

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