An American man went into cardiac arrest while demonstrating the signs of a heart attack during a training course. Karl Arps, 72, an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) instructor, was teaching a class of students at Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC) in Appleton, Wisconsin, when he started feeling dizzy and gasping for air before losing consciousness. At first, students thought he was imitating a patient with chest pain, but soon realised that the situation had turned precarious.
Student Logan Lehrer, 26, a firefighter training as an EMT, said he saw Arps’s hand curling outward and face contorting as he started snoring.
“I heard him making snoring-sounding respirations. My initial thought was that this was a new symptom,” Lehrer was quoted as saying by The Washington Post. “About 10 seconds went by and I had a feeling in my stomach this was not part of a scenario, this was starting to feel real.”
Lehrer and other students called over another instructor, Traci Blondeau, who attempted to “snap Arps out of it” but quickly found out that he was not acting. Lehrer dialled 911, while others attended to Arps. They moved him out of the mock ambulance and onto the open floor.
“You read about cardiac arrest, and you study it on paper, but once you see it, it’s alarming,” Lehrer said.
‘CPR And Defibrillator’
Under the guidance of their instructor, the students took turns administering CPR and a defibrillator until first responders arrived on the scene. By the time paramedics arrived, Arps had regained a pulse.
“We all had our tasks, and we all knew what to do. There was not a student out there that was fumbling,” Lehrer said.
Nick Romenesko, executive director of Gold Cross Ambulance, whose responders arrived on the scene and took care of Arps, stated that the immediate action of the students helped save his life.
“The early recognition that Karl was in cardiac arrest, along with the immediate actions taken by FVTC students and staff, directly contributed to Mr Arps’s positive outcome,” said Romenesko.
Arps underwent a triple-bypass surgery and walked out of the hospital seven days later. He thanked the students for saving his life, adding that they followed everything taught in the class.
“From what I was told, they did everything like we told them to do in CPR class. Thank you does not seem enough. They saved my life, period,” said Arps.
Arps is now recovering and will be returning to work in a few more months.
