How to save a life

In the early morning hours of January 15, 2023, Holyoke resident Jerry Brandt woke to a thumping sound and found his wife, Debbie, lying unconscious and unresponsive on the floor. Acting quickly, he alerted his daughter, Nicole, who called 911 and helped him to begin CPR. Jerry, a chiropractor, had been required by his work to participate in regular intensive CPR training, and was therefore able to administer high-quality compressions that returned some color to Debbie’s face, as well as reviving her pulse. 

“His general understanding of human anatomy and how the body works was helpful,” Nicole said in an interview. “So we did CPR and my dad said, I’ve got this; you’ve got to do some other things, and asked me to start calling the siblings to get them in the loop on what was going on, and get the house ready for EMS. So I unlocked the door, turned on the exterior light and all the lights between the door and my mom, and then started moving furniture.”

Lucas Hayes, a neighbor who works in the Emergency Medical Service, ran to assist them, taking over CPR from Jerry, and soon a policeman arrived with an automated external defibrillator, or AED, which didn’t work. 

“Defibrillators need to sense some electric circulation in your body to shock,” Nicole said, “and she didn’t have any. So she was dead for 51 minutes.” 

The ambulance arrived approximately 18 minutes after the emergency call was made, and the responders utilized a machine that performs CPR mechanically, freeing them to attempt defibrillation and administer medications. After 40 minutes of no success, they were able to get a heartbeat by delivering an epinephrine shot. 

Debbie was transported by helicopter to North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley, where her condition was eventually stabilized. 

“I can start remembering things from the day I left the hospital,” Debbie said. “But that first two weeks after I got back I was in a really big fog. I could interact with people, but I couldn’t always remember everyone who had come over, or things they were telling me; and then I’d say, you didn’t tell me that! I imagine part of it was trying to get some control over what was happening.”

Statistics show that only about 10% of people who suffer an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) survive to hospital discharge, and the percentage of those who survive without sustaining serious brain damage is even smaller. With the help of cardiac rehab and the support of her family, Debbie has recovered remarkably well in the intervening months; she has even managed to take a couple of trips, one to San Diego with her husband and another to Beverly Beach in Oregon with her cousins. 

“Three percent total of people who have sudden cardiac arrests out of hospital resume some normal quality of life,” Nicole said. “The reason that my mom’s here is basically that people kept fighting when there was no hope or reason to keep fighting.”

“There must be a reason I came back; maybe it’s to keep an eye on the kids,” Debbie joked.

“Something we haven’t talked about a lot,” Nicole continued, “I thought it was really cool when my mom was in the hospital coming back to being her own self, those bits of character that you get to see. She’s in the hospital recovering, and so much of the time saying things like, ‘how’s so and so doing? I need to check in on so and so.’ [She was] thinking about other people and their needs.”

Longtime Holyoke resident John Schneider is also a survivor of a sudden cardiac arrest. In October of 2022, he returned home one day from walking his cat, took the harness off the cat, walked down the hall, and then his memory goes blank. 

“I don’t remember any pain,” Schneider said. “I don’t remember anything from that Friday and Saturday. I remember on Sunday at the hospital my wife said we were going home. Then the ride home, getting home and sitting in the easy chair.”

Schneider noted that on a typical day, his wife would have left home fifteen minutes from the time he suffered the cardiac arrest, so she was very nearly not there to aid him. The ambulance arrived quickly and Police Chief Doug Bergstrom administered CPR, as well as utilizing an AED.

“My one issue with CPR is that it can break ribs,” Schneider said. “I didn’t have any broken, but I couldn’t sleep in a bed for about 6 weeks because of the bruising. But that’s a small price to pay. CPR saves lives.”

Unfortunately, hundreds of thousands of Americans have similar experiences each year. According to the American Heart Association, more than 350,000 cardiac arrests occur annually outside of hospitals, and only about 40% of them get the immediate help they need before professional help arrives. 

Debbie’s cardiac arrest motivated Nicole to organize a CPR class available at no cost to the whole community. Juan Atan, Interim EMS Director at Melissa Memorial Hospital, is assisting Nicole in organizing the event. 

“Nicole approached me regarding doing an event for her mom, and we decided since this coming week is national EMS week, there was no better time to do a community CPR,” Atan said. “It’s going to be a very down-to-earth class; come to have fun, because, as I say when teach courses, if you’re not having fun, you’re not learning.”

The class will take place on Saturday, May 27, from 9am to 12pm at the Phillips County Fairgrounds Bank of Colorado Pavilion.