New law protects pets, people from heat
Newspaper of Viera & Suntree...........BLUEWATER CREATIVE GROUP J U LY 2 0 1 6
Page 4
v i eravoi ce. com
VOLUME 10 ISSUE 6
Quick thinking, AED machine saves Viera teen’s life after treadmill tumble
Life changes for ballet student Page 16
VIERA VOICE George White
Luau party fundraiser
Bill Sick, left, Jack Rhodes and John Lynch helped save Lexi Sima’s life after she fell off a treadmill at a fitness center. BY GEORGE WHITE
Twelve minutes of miracles by three bystanders Feb. 2 — highlighted by CPR and by fresh batteries in an optional AED — no doubt saved the life of Lexi Sima, 16, of Viera. The miracle: no after effects from when she went flying off her treadmill at full pace at Oraya Fitness Gym in Viera. The gym had an AED, Automated External Defibrillator, a portable electronic device that diagnoses and shocks the patients’ heart out of Ventricular Fibrillation (VF) which causes Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA). During SCA, blood stops flowing and after three to five minutes, irreversible
VIERA VOICE 7630 N. Wickham Rd., #105 Viera, FL 32940
brain/tissue damage may begin to occur. “It threw her like she weighed nothing,’’ said gym regular Bill Sick of Viera, a four-sport athlete through college and former lifeguard. Sick and gym patrons Jack Rhodes and John Lynch started CPR and mouthto-mouth resuscitation “just to keep the blood flowing inside of her and give her some air, whatever we could do,’’ Sick said. When minutes passed without Lexi responding — as two other drowning victims had for him during lifeguard rescues many years previously — Sick, 58, yelled for Rhodes to get the gym’s AED. “He grabbed the machine, read the
Presort Std U.S. Postage PAID Orlando, FL Permit No. 1979
instructions, and in a minute put the shock on her. The first time we shocked her we got an immediate pulse back and she started to breathe a little bit,” he said. Added Rhodes: “I did 20 years in the military and every year we would train. Honestly I was probably in more of a panic mode than I’d like to admit. It was really easy. The very first thing it said was to shock. I thought ‘This is real.’ It was terrifying. We slapped it on and she came back.” Sick remembers his mantra during the ordeal. “Keep the blood flowing, keep giving her CPR and mouth-to-mouth, keep that blood
MIRACLE see page 30
Page 2
Plant sale helps garden grow Page 22
Diabetic Teaching Same Day Appointments 1st Wednesdays Medicare Patients Welcome 7 p.m. We Accept Most Insurance To sign up call Evening and Weekend Office Hours 259-9500 Come see us at the new office Specializing in Adult Medicine in Brevard Medical City State-of-the-art Medical Facility • Everything under one roof Conveniently located on Wickham Road in Suntree
$25 gift certificate if not seen in 30 minutes
(321) 259-9500 Abe Hardoon, M.D. Scott Hardoon, M.D. Edwin Chan, M.D. Amanda Paul, M.D. Board Certified Board Certified Board Certified Board Certified Internal Medicine Internal Medicine Family Medicine Internal Medicine
WEEKDAYS 7 a.m. - 7 p.m. SATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS 8 a.m. - 2 p.m. 6619 N. Wickham Rd, Melbourne
Free Antibiotics No need for a second trip to the pharmacy
Save gas, time and money Will fill one prescription per patient per visit if antibiotics are needed.
VieraVoice.com
Gary J. Hardoon M.D. Jennifer Schneider Reginald Joseph Board Certified ARNP PA-C Internal Medicine
Shannon Spreitzer ARNP
Book your appointment online suntree-internal-medicine.com