Wisconsin man’s life saved by his co-workers

[tweetmeme]

It was just another day for a 49-year-old Scoutmaster from Chippewa Falls, WI, starting his shift at 11 am. Claude Carpenter has been working at TTM Technologies for three years.

At 12:30 pm Carpenter was experiencing what he thought was heartburn from spicy jambalaya the night before, he was hoping that the knot in his chest would go away, which it did – only to collapse of a heart attack. Now his life lay in the hands of co-workers he hardly knew.

Claude Carpenter with his rescuers.

Three people came to his rescue, Rick Steinmetz was one of them. Steinmetz had trained in CPR, “But it’s been 10 years,” he said. So he called to the front desk to request help from the First Responder team. Tim Black got the text and was about 200 feet from Carpenter. Other than TTM’s First Responder team training, he had trained through the Fire Department.

But training doesn’t mean you still aren’t shocked to see a co-worker you had just met a week before now having a heart attack.

Another TTM First Responder, Howard Ressler, arrived to help, bringing the Automated External Defibrillator (AED) with him.

“The unit told us to shock,” Black said about the AED, which diagnoses what is happening and gives recorded instructions. “After the shock, we started CPR.”

Carpenter came to and was loaded into the ambulance – remembering nothing of the incident. “The next thing I know, I woke up at St. Joseph’s Hospital,” he said. Carpenter has a certificate for completing CPR training. But he never expected to rely on others to know how to do it. “Never in my wildest dreams did I figure I would be the one they would be using it on,” he said.

Carpenter came out of the experience thinking all businesses should have an AED. “These things should be in every business place,” he said of the units.

Ressler said TTM is buying two more AEDs, so the machines can be spaced out throughout the Chippewa Falls plant.

If you want information on incorporating an AED program into your facility or workplace, contact our AED Experts today, or give us a call us at 888.473.1777.

Source, by Rod Stetzer

Didn’t change your AED’s batteries? That will be $3.2 million death settlement please.

[tweetmeme]

A settlement of $3.2 million will be paid to the family of a 49-year-old man who died of a heart attack after a Chicago Fire engine’s defibrillator batteries hadn’t been replaced.

On January 22, 2005 Frederick Partyka, a city worker in the Chicago area collapsed while using his snow blower in front of his home. His son, a paramedic with the fire department – witnessing the incident – called 911 immediately and ran out to administer CPR while waiting for help to arrive.

At 3:16 pm the fire engine arrived, the paramedic on-board found Partyka in ventricular tachycardia – a life-threatening condition. But when the paramedic went to use the AED to shock Partyka’s heart back into rhythm, the defibrillator didn’t work. The batteries were old and wouldn’t hold a charge. At 3:22 pm an ambulance arrived with a working defibrillator. But those six minutes were far too late – Partyka was already dead.

“The industry standard required – and the manufacturer recommended – that this particular defibrillator battery had to be replaced every two years,” said Susan Schwartz, an attorney representing the Partyka family.

“But, on Jan. 22, 2005, no battery had been purchased by the city since October, 2000. They didn’t properly maintain the batteries for these defibrillators.”

During Monday’s Finance Committee meeting, First Deputy Corporation Counsel Karen Seimetz told aldermen that the defibrillators used on that day were replaced in March, 2005. The new version uses batteries “automatically changed out with the manufacturer every two years,” she said.

Stories like this can be prevented if your organization has current AED management software – a program that can track where your AEDs are, when their warranty is up, when they need maintenance, and when their batteries need replacing. Contact us today – 888.473.1777 or info[at]think-safe[dot]com – to ask about our new First Voice +AED Program Manager.

Source

EID in action!

While working with Wilson this past Friday, I had the opportunity to put my

First Voice Responder Kit to use.  In preparing a grill at and industry

related charity fund raiser, Blake Cureton with Wilson accidentally injured

his arm.  As luck would have it, I had my system on display and I was able

to illustrate to the volunteers how the system worked and administered

first aid to the injured Cureton.  Becky Gray with Wilson snapped a picture

of the EID in action.

We got an email from Phil Hines today with a great story of putting the Emergency Instruction Device (EID) to use!

While working with Wilson this past Friday, I had the opportunity to put my First Voice Responder Kit to use.  In preparing a grill at and industry related charity fund raiser, Blake Cureton with Wilson accidentally injured his arm.  As luck would have it, I had my system on display and I was able to illustrate to the volunteers how the system worked and administered first aid to the injured Cureton.  Becky Gray with Wilson snapped a picture of the EID in action.

Phil Hines of JDF putting the EID to work!

Thanks for sending this to us Phil! Great work!

If you have any questions about the EID or how it can save you or your organization money, email us at info [at] think-safe [dot] com – or shoot us a call at 888.473.1777 today!

Our apologies.

On September 24th we had an email leave our offices with news of the Rugged+AED SET System and how it can save you or your organization money, time, and provide a great sense of security.

I made a mistake. To this day I am not sure how it happened, but everyone that received that press release email also saw the other people that received it too.

I fully realize how amateur this mistake was.  I am taking this seriously and would like to say that  it will not happen again. I will not make any excuses for what happened; – I believe it was an honest (yet detrimental) mistake that will not happen again – but I will say that we are doing everything in our power to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.

For anyone that saw the email and is upset about it, I am sorry. I, like you, get annoyed by spam email and understand how easy it might be to claim that we spammed you. Frustration is understandable. We have learned and are moving forward stronger than ever to bring you innovative life-saving tools and training in emergency first aid.

Thank you for your understanding and time.

-Will

What a gift we got in the mail!

As a gag, Paula was sent a stem of Brussels sprouts today!