Automated External Defibrillator saves life

  • Published
  • By Jeanne Grimes
  • Oklahoma City Air Logistic Center Public Affairs
Two days before Thanksgiving, Bob Green and his wife, Mary, came here to shop at the commissary.

While such trips are not usually very momentous, this one proved to be a lifesaver for the 68-year-old retired Air Force technical sergeant who suddenly became ill that day. Sitting on a bench while his wife shopped, he found himself feeling extreme fatigue.

Bob rejoined Mary in the checkout line and the last thing he said he remembers is that she turned to him and commented on how pale he was.

He collapsed at her side and by the time he hit the floor, his heart had stopped and he was not breathing.

Mary knelt by Bob, trying to rouse him. Two women waiting to check out began cardiopulmonary resuscitation. A third shopper tried to find a pulse as Bob’s coloring changed from ashen to blue.

Manuel Othon, store administrator at the commissary, was not supposed to be working that day. But he had come in to help with the pre-holiday crush and was walking through the store when an employee caught his arm and told him he was needed at the front. Just then, an alarm sounded, alerting him the Automated External Defibrillator has been removed from the wall.

Othon rushed to the registers where the customer service manager handed him the AED.

Recalling what had learned in the CPR/AED class taught by Lt. Col. (Dr.) Don Christensen of the 72nd Medical Group, Othon bared Bob’s chest, affixed the pads and followed voice prompts from the AED that told him an electrical shock was needed.

The first shock was easily delivered, but produced no apparent change in Bob’s condition. The AED indicated the need for a second shock, which it also administered. The second jolt restored Bob’s heartbeat, but he still was not breathing on his own. The customer continued mouth-to-mouth breathing for him until an emergency squad arrived from the Tinker Fire Department.

After stabilizing the retiree, the squad transported him to a local hospital. Tests there showed Bob’s heart attack was caused by 100-percent blockage of one blood vessel in his heart and 99-percent blockage in a second vessel.

He underwent immediate surgery to implant two stents and restore the blood flow through the affected vessels. Bob spent one night in the hospital’s cardiac-care unit and the next day was moved to a regular room. His doctor discharged him Thanksgiving Day.

“It didn’t dawn on me what had happened and what I had done,” Othon said. “It was a little emotional.”

The episode also proved very emotional for Mary, who was taken from her husband’s side to an office.

“There wasn’t anything I could do,” Mary said, adding she did not know it was the AED that restored her husband’s heart rhythm until later at the hospital.

To Othon and the other commissary staff, as well as the shoppers who performed CPR on Bob, she said she feels immense gratitude. Othon, too, said he is grateful to the people in the commissary that day, particularly those who helped administer CPR and others who responded to a public-address announcement that asked anyone with a medical background to come to the front of the store.

“I’m glad they were there,” Mary said. “I can look back now and breathe easy. But at the time, it was terrifying.”

Bob still has some blockage in the vessels to his heart, but it is being controlled with medication. He expresses wonder at the events of the past month -- and the fact Christensen told him he was at the point where CPR was not going to help him when Othon used the AED.

“Mr. Green was clinically dead,” Christensen said. “His only chance for survival was the immediate application of electricity.”

“I always thought I was the picture of health,” Bob said. “I had no chest pains, I just felt terrible.”

Christensen said he is a strong proponent of AEDs. Department of Defense officials highly recommended earlier this year that government installations institute a public access defibrillation program. To date, Tinker has the largest program within the DOD system, Christensen said.

For Christensen, it was never a matter of if the AEDs at Tinker would save a life; it was only a question of when.

“This may have been the first life saved with the use of an AED, but I can assure you it will not be the last,” he said.

In visiting with Christensen, Bob has volunteered his services at future CPR/AED classes given on base.

When the physician teaches the classes, he asks those attending, “Why are you here?” Often, he told Bob, the answer is along the lines of “My boss made me come.”

“Now he can call on me and tell them, ‘Here’s a living example of why you are here,’” Bob said.