Jim Niskanen, Modesto, CA – (2008)
August 25, 2008 could have been a delightful day for Jim Niskanen. Two days earlier he arrived at the picturesque and luxurious Oglebay Resort and Conference Center outside Wheeling, West Virginia. Oglebay is the largest self-sustaining public resort in the USA, and includes a conference center, three golf courses and a zoo.
Jim enjoyed a morning of golf and prepared for his presentation to an evening class of recreation and park professionals. As he organized his materials for his talk about fundraising for public agencies, he commented to the resort’s foundation director, Bill Koegler, “This is what I want to be remembered for [helping agencies raise money], not building parks and swimming pools. I want this to be my legacy.”
Little did Jim know how close to leaving a legacy he was. Forty-five minutes into the class he collapsed, unconscious and without a heart-beat, in sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). What could have been a tragedy, however, turned out otherwise, because an automated external defibrillator (AED) was close by and many people all along the way were prepared and not afraid to jump in and help Jim.
Lisa Cline and Amy Fortenberry, of Odessa and Plano, Texas, were two of those people. With years of recreation experience between them, they were trained in CPR and use of an AED. Both women watched in shock as Jim toppled to the floor, striking his head hard on the podium. Both rushed forward to assist, with Amy beginning chest compressions and Lisa providing CPR while others rushed to call 9-1-1 and to find out if the resort had an AED.
Lisa said. “Jim was giving his lecture and walking back and forth, and then he stopped and fell forward. I don’t remember my feet moving. I did the breathing and Amy did the compressions....I was praying, please let this gentleman pull through. Amy and I worked as though we had worked together for years, making eye contact and talking to each other.” Yet this was the first time they had met.
“Jim was doing a wonderful job presenting,” Amy said. “He was very eloquent. I noticed he was perspiring but thought, ‘People can be nervous when they make presentations.’” She noted that when Jim first collapsed, people thought he was breathing, so she and Lisa checked for a pulse, and found none. Then she remembered a conversation she had with her firefighter husband a few years ago, about the agonal breathing that often occurs with sudden cardiac arrest. The breathing was “slow, sounded like a snore, and was heavy on the exhale side. I knew something wasn’t right.”
According to the American Heart Association, agonal breathing is gasping, not breathing, and if some- one is unresponsive, CPR should be initiated.
Lisa and Amy performed CPR until the LIFEPAK 500 AED was delivered to Jim’s side.
Jim’s best friend, Barry Weiss, has known Jim both personally and professionally for nearly 30 years, and was teaching a class nearby. He rushed to Jim’s side and found him “blue and gray—dead.” He said, “I held his hand, and said ‘Stay with us, stay with us, Jim.’” Someone said, ”Barry you’ve got to let go,” before the AED could do its job and provide a shock. When the AED was attached and the first shock was delivered, Jim seemed to look at Barry, and then they “lost him again.” With the second shock, a heart rhythm resumed and Jim began to wake up before the ambulance arrived eight to 10 minutes later.
Without the AED and the quick action of Jim’s colleagues, the outcome could have been very different for Jim, as SCA survival rates drop 7–10 percent every minute without defibrillation.
One of the ER nurses on duty that evening was Mandy Bell. She had “walked away from nursing” a few years before, following the death of her mother from SCA. “When I first saw Jim, he was fully coherent and talking, with no chest pain, just slight discomfort. He had quite a ‘shiner’ [from the fall]. I saw his EKG and it had a wide complex. He told me he had no history of cardiac disease,” Mandy said.
Dr. Robert Fanning, Jr., a cardiologist at Wheeling Hospital was called and was surprised to see his nurse of 15 years, Debby Koegler, in the ER with her husband Bill, the director at Oglebay.
Tests soon revealed that Jim had a major blockage of the arteries to the heart, and he required quadruple bypass surgery. Dr. Fanning also has a personal connection with SCA, his younger brother died of SCA at the age of 28, when he was just out of law school and three months from getting married.
At Oglebay, the parks and recreation directors, together with Bill and Debby Koegler, have raised funds to install an AED just outside the conference room so it is more accessible during conferences should someone need it again. Jim had a Medtronic ICD implanted as an ongoing part of his treatment under the expert care of his cardiologist.
Jim has decided to retire from full-time work. He and Valeri treasure their time with each other, their children and their spouses, grandson, extended family and close friends.
Mandy and Dr. Fanning are both active in improving SCA survival rates in their community. On Valentine’s Day they helped sponsor a CPR Marathon in which more than 200 people were trained in CPR and AED use.
The Directors’ school will meet again in August 2009 at Oglebay, and the same week, Dr. Fanning and Mandy are organizing a conference there about hypothermia treatment for SCA patients. Jim is planning to return to give the presentation he started in 2008. All involved in saving Jim’s life hope to meet and reminisce about their “perfect storm of good fortune.”
In telling their stories, everyone who played a role in saving Jim’s life echoed the sentiment that Lisa, one of Jim’s rescuers, so aptly expressed. “I believe so much in AED units,” she said. “Human life is not replaceable. An experience like this has touched my heart. To be a part of someone’s life in this regard is a blessing and an honor to us.”
SOURCE: Physio-Control
Original story available here