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Courthouse CPR event shows need for AEDs ASAP

June 20, 2012|By Rhonda Dragomir | Journal Columnist

It’s time to bone up on my CPR skills. After reading about Andy Sims’ collapse in the grand-jury room, I realize I’m far from prepared enough to help someone in a life-threatening situation.

As Doug Fain aptly said, it must have seemed to those present that they were a part of the movie of the week instead of a real-life emergency. I’m sure it must have taken a few moments for them to spring into action, but act they did — heroically, in my opinion.

It takes true courage to administer CPR when the subject is apparently already lifeless. This story just reiterates in my thinking that the admonition to continue resuscitation efforts until paramedics arrive is good advice. Had these Good Samaritans given up, this story might have had a very different ending.

It’s a sad fact in our litigious society that people are less and less prone to intervene in an emergency for fear of being sued. Evidently that was not in the thinking of attorney David Thomas. I think lawyers get a bad rap in our present culture. They are stereotyped as being arrogant and greedy, and it’s refreshing to see evidence again that many such ideas are undeserved. I can’t think of a more selfless act than to get “up close and personal” with a stranger and try to save his/her life.

I’m also thinking that it’s time to equip our public buildings with automatic emergency defibrillator (AED) machines. Survival rates from a cardiac-arrest incident vary widely, primarily based on access to emergency equipment such as a defibrillator. Those minutes that pass before EMTs arrive with a defibrillator are golden, and life and death hang in the balance.

AEDs are relatively inexpensive and simple to operate. This event demonstrates that access to an AED in our courthouse, schools, and recreational facilities should be a high priority. I know budgets are tight, but what price can be put on saving a life? Some states now mandate AEDs in public buildings, and that would seem to be an enlightened stance.

Sims’ attack also reminds me that we should all be aware of symptoms of the onset of a cardiac arrest. These signs must be heeded, even in a person who is young and in apparently good health, as was Sims.

Most of us would recognize chest pain and breathlessness as troubling symptoms, but would we also know that pain in the arms, back, neck, jaw and stomach can signal cardiac arrest? So can breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea and lightheadedness.

I once had a gall-bladder attack that gave me several of these terrifying symptoms, and I lost no time in getting to the emergency room. Although I felt a little foolish when I realized it wasn’t a heart attack, the hospital personnel reassured me that I had not jumped the gun. These symptoms should always be checked out by a health professional. Since I no longer have my gall bladder, you’d better believe that I’ll be paying even closer attention.

The reaction of the three people who performed CPR was admirable, but I was also greatly touched by the concern and care of Fain and the grand jurors. It’s enough to make even the most cynical among us sit up and take notice.

Good news like this is enough to give every heart a lift.

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