Man revived by defibrillator
at CVG Airport
By Tom McKee, WCPO.com
April 11th, 2005
Good Samaritans and great technology are the reasons
a Hamilton man is still alive.
Two nurses had never met Thomas Bohemer before they
saved his life at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky
International Airport.
When Bohemer had a heart attack at the airport, an
automatic external defibrillator, or "AED"
was nearby, along with the nurses.
A cry for help alerted veteran nurse Joan Roos of
Berkeley, California, to grab an AED and give the
man a shock.
"He jumped off the floor and still wasn't breathing,
still had no pulse," said Roos.
Another nurse, David Love of Memphis, arrived to
help Roos.
"She started CPR and I started the breathing
part of CPR so we did five compressions, one breath,"
Love said.
A second shock revived the man. Airport paramedics
had him at St. Elizabeth South in 36 minutes.
Captain Kevin Sell calls the nurses heroes.
"There are two people who had a moral and ethical
obligation to stop and be a Good Samaritan and the
airport just happens to be the type of airport to
provide the equipment for Good Samaritans to use,"
Sell said.
"I did what I knew to do and I'm so grateful
that I had the opportunity to do it," Roos said.
Love agreed.
"I think anybody that knows CPR and who walked
up on such a situation would have done the same thing,"
he said.
Cardiologist Dr. Loren Hiratzka knows AEDs save lives.
He helped use one to revive a man at Atlanta's airport.
"CPR is important. Having a first responder
who knows CPR is important. But, the incremental benefit
of having an AED or a device that can do the same
thing is dramatically important to the tune of five
to 10 times the success rate of CPR alone," said
Dr. Hiratzka.
Bohemer underwent heart surgery and is now recovering
at home.
His wife, Donna, says the whole experience is a miracle
and she'll push for more AEDs in public places. |
