Preparing to save a life

By Jeanne Souldern Sopris Sun Correspondent

On Jan. 2, during a nationallytelevised Monday Night Football game, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin made what sportscasters called a routine tackle. After the 24-year-old stood up and walked a few steps, he wobbled and collapsed onto his back. The arguably healthy professional athlete suffered a cardiac arrest on the playing field.

To the reported 23.8 million viewers, the gravity of Hamlin’s condition became apparent quickly as medical personnel from both teams performed CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) and used an AED (Automated External Defibrillator) to resuscitate him before being transported to a local hospital. Hamlin would be released nine days later to begin his recovery care.

In the aftermath of the Hamlin incident, The Sopris Sun contacted Carbondale Fire Chief Rob Goodwin to talk about the importance of knowing CPR/AED. His email response read, “We have our own incredible story about early CPR and a positive outcome.”

That story involves Jenny Cutright, Carbondale Fire’s own public information officer, whose husband, Don, suffered a cardiac arrest on Feb. 15 in their West Glenwood home.

Don gave permission to Jenny to tell their story to The Sopris Sun in the hope that it would encourage people to learn CPR/AED.

Jenny started with the Glenwood

Springs Fire Department and came to the Carbondale force in 1993. While currently working in an administrative capacity, she has worked for both departments as an emergency medical technician (EMT).

On Feb. 15, Jenny was in their bedroom when she heard Don, who was in the kitchen, collapse. Finding her 54-year-old husband lying on the floor — unconscious, unresponsive, not breathing and with no pulse — she called 911.

Jenny knelt by her husband’s side, leaning over him, leveraging her body weight, and performing rapid CPR chest compressions.

When Glenwood Springs Fire Department paramedics arrived, they continued administering CPR and drugs through an IV. They used a defibrillator (AED) to restart his heart and discharge an electrical current (shock). Paramedics shocked Don nine times.

After several paramedics worked on Don, they stabilized his heart enough to transport him to Valley View Hospital, where he arrived in critical condition.

According to Jenny, Don had been ill with an upper respiratory infection. His doctors believe the cause of his cardiac arrest was a blood clot that had gone into his heart.

Upon arrival at the hospital, doctors immediately examined Don’s heart rhythm and transferred him to a lab, where they inserted catheters to open his blood vessels.

Over the next 30 hours, Don was resuscitated three times, catheterized again and had four stents inserted. And while Don’s condition was, according to Goodwin, “pretty gloomy,” he continued to make slow but steady progress. Don was released after eight days with no apparent neurological damage and will begin his cardiac rehabilitation at Valley View this week.

In retrospect, Jenny said, “I instantly went into my CPR training and did exactly what I knew. It wasn’t until paramedics arrived to take over CPR that I could step away and be a wife.”

That’s when the emotional impact of the situation hit her. Jenny remembers calling her son and Goodwin to deliver the news of Don’s cardiac event. "I fell apart.”

But being prepared for the moments that matter by knowing CPR/AED is something that, Jenny said, “anyone can do … and everyone should learn how.”

The reality is, Goodwin explained, “if she hadn't been doing it [CPR], he would have lost up to 80% of his brain, and he'd be dead. Jenny did CPR, keeping blood flowing into his brain and heart, and that's how he lived.”

Correct CPR compressions on an adult go about two inches deep into the chest, and, in the process, Jenny broke Don’s sternum and a couple of ribs. But, as Goodwin said, while Don’s bones are healing, “at least he’ll be alive.”

Goodwin believes, “AEDs should be like fire extinguishers — they should be everywhere.” He said there are grants for purchasing AEDs, and “we will help anyone, company or organization who wants to buy one.”

Jenny expressed her gratitude for the Glenwood Springs Fire Department and the Valley View team, who “did a stellar and amazing job.” And, last but not least, her Carbondale Fire family “who came in to support me because that's the other part that you need when it’s over — you need that support.”

Pablo Herr, assistant fire marshal and public fire educator, is preparing a schedule of free CPR/AED classes that will begin this spring, with a class schedule posted on the Carbondale Fire website and notices published in The Sopris Sun.

Goodwin jokingly said, “I told Jenny she's got the ultimate hammer for the rest of her life. She can say to Don, ‘I saved your life. Mow the lawn,’” to which they both had a big laugh while blinking back tears.

If you would like more information, you can call Carbondale Fire at 970-9632491 or visit carbondalefire.org