Last Updated: June 11, 2006

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  Heartsaver Award 

       A Heart Rendering Effort

   Fire District 4 EMTs offer lifesaving assistance to Deer Park man

                          By Thomas Costigan        Deer Park Tribune

                                                Reprinted by permission

In the early morning hours of January 10, 2003, Pat Drake knew it was not going to a normal day. Little did she know, that a couple of hours later it would become the most terrifying day of her life.

In a couple of hours she would see her husband Ron, take what seemed to be his last breath.

The previous evening the Deer Park woman, a former nurse, listened to her husband talk about pain in his shoulders. The pair decided to visit the doctor the next day.

At 4 a.m., Ron was still in pain. The couple talked about going to the hospital right away. They decided to wait until later in the morning. Unbeknownst to them, the decision had near–fatal consequences.

A few hours later a fatigued Ron checked his emails and decided to rest on the living room recliner. A few minutes later, Pat came into the room to see her husband take what in most cases would have been his last breath.

"I saw him exhale for the last time," she said.

Ron, slumping into his chair, was in full cardiac arrest.

"It wasn't the classic (cardiac arrest) symptoms," said Pat about the shoulder pain, "but nobody has classic symptoms,"

 In seconds, Pat reverted to her former occupation.

"I put myself into an RN, (registered nurse) mode," said Pat, who tried to detach herself personally from the situation by looking at Ron as a patient and not her husband.

After calling 911 and contacting a neighbor to ensure emergency crews could find her Perry Road home, Pat 'tried to lift her 135‑pound husband out of the chair and onto the floor so she could begin cardiopulmonary resuscitation. After a few tries she finally got Ron to the floor.

While performing CPR, Pat told her husband of 33 years, “Don't do this to me, don't do this to me.”

While performing CPR, Pat told her husband of 33 years, 'Don't do this to me, don't do this to me.'

While Pat was trying to get her husband on the floor, operators, who received her 9 11 call at 7: 3 1

a.m., dispatched emergency medical technician units from Spokane County Fire District No. 4's Stations 41 and 46. The crews were told the patient was in "respiratory arrest."

The fire district crews of Jared Murphy, Megan Hill, Scott Reiber, Adam Villard and Pat Bennett arrived five minutes after Pat's frantic phone call.

Station 46's Villard and Bennett arrived first and requested Pat move out of the way so they could assess the situation. A defiant wife told the crew that they could assess the situation while she continued to do CPR.

Abiding by Pat's wishes, crew members quickly determined the extent of Ron's condition. Pat finally stepped aside so they could begin defib procedures. Hill, who was dispatched from Station 41 with Murphy and Reiber, found Villard and Bennett working on Ron when she arrived. While the four EMTs worked on the patient, Hill took vital personal information from Pat. In most cases, Hill said, the spouse is in a state of­ shock, but Pat was quite vocal during the ordeal.

On the second defib attempt, the EMTs established a pulse and inserted a tube down his throat to establish breathing.

District Chief Ed Lewis admitted that it is rare for emergency crews to revive someone in full cardiac arrest. He credited early detection and proper response as the prime factors in bringing Ron back.

"We've given someone an opportunity and that's what we focus on," he said.

The fire district quintet was honored last week with American Heart Association "Heart Saver" awards.

Deer Park Ambulance crewman arrived 10 minutes after Pat's phone call (Hill called the suddenly crowded living room "basic mayhem") and transported him to Deer Park Hospital where Dr. Daniel Stoop was waiting. Stoop treated Ron with heart medication and stabilized him for transport by­ helicopter 49 Holy Family Hospital.

Coincidentally, some of the fire district EMTs went to Deer Park Hospital to pick up some equipment and were heartened to learn that Ron was still alive.

Waiting at the Spokane hospital officials told Pat that it would be another 48 hours before her husband was out of danger.

"Everything was in place that needed to be in place," Pat recalled.

Hill was told at the station the following day that Ron had survived the arrest.

"I've never seen that," said Hill, who briefly talked to the Drakes before last week's award presentation. "It gets your hopes up (for the next such call)."

During the Heart Saver ceremony, Pat apologized to the fire district crew for being so rude when they arrived.

After getting her husband home, Pat and her two sons cleaned up the area around and repainted the red mailbox (with large white numbers) to ensure emergency personnel would not have trouble finding their place again.

Last week, Villard told her that the units did not have trouble finding their house in January

Ron, a retired foreman from Calkins Boat Trailers in Spokane, is a black powder enthusiast.

Last weekend, he and his wife went to a target-shooting event thanks to a series of successful life saving events less than six months earlier.

 
Copyright © 2002 Spokane County Fire District 4