Man survives ‘widow maker’ thanks to CPR, quick actions from Monroe firefighters

Man survives ‘widow maker’ thanks to CPR, quick actions from Monroe firefighters

Richard Kohl slowly stepped to the podium during Tuesday night’s Monroe City Council meeting and looked to his right, through the windows of the city building and toward the setting sun.

When you’ve experienced what Kohl has been through the last 10 weeks, every sunrise and sunset is breath-taking.

On Aug. 12, Kohl, 70, was sitting at his kitchen table when he had a cardiac arrest. When his wife, Shirley, noticed he was unresponsive, she called her sister, Angie Boggs, who lives nearby, and 911.

Kohl said he doesn’t remember much about what happened that morning. But on Tuesday night, those responsible for saving his life were honored for their heroic actions.

“Thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Kohl told the emergency personnel through tears. “I can’t thank you enough.”

Boggs, a licensed practical nurse, who performed CPR on Kohl, and the 911 dispatcher, Summer Kelley, who instructed Kohl’s wife how to perform CPR until Boggs and the Monroe firefighters/paramedics arrived were presented Community Hero certificates from Atrium Medical Center.

The five Monroe firefighters — Lt. Josh Crone, Tom Hill, Chris Conte, Kyle Keeler and Justin Witte — were given Cardiac Save Challenge coins and certificates by Daniel Rihm, EMS coordinator for the Premier EMS Center of Excellence assigned to Atrium.

Matt Grubbs, assistant fire chief, presented the firefighters, Kelley and Boggs with a Life Saving Award.

Grubbs said the crew found Kohl not breathing and without a pulse. They continued manual CPR, followed by mechanical CPR. They placed a cardiac monitor on him and quickly identified a lethal arrhythmia: ventricular fibrillation, Grubbs said.

The crew eventually administered three defibrillation shocks, successfully achieving the return of spontaneous circulation. As Kohl began to show signs of regaining consciousness, medical control directed the team to provide a combination of sedatives and paralytics, which was “crucial to ensure patient care and safety” during transport to the hospital, Grubbs said.

He said the successful outcome of this resuscitation was attributed to several key factors: early recognition of cardiac arrest, effective dispatch-assisted bystander CPR, the crew’s swift response and their quick care transition to minimize interruptions in chest compressions, prompt identification of arrhythmias, timely defibrillation, appropriate post-cardiac arrest care and efficient communication with medical control.

These actions “collectively saved” Kohl’s life, highlighting the importance of skill, teamwork, and protocol adherence during critical emergencies, according to Grubbs.

Rihm said after the hospital’s emergency department stabilized Kohl, he was transferred to the Cardiac Cath lab where he underwent an emergency heart catheterization. That’s when it was discovered that his circumlex artery had 100% blockage and the right coronary artery was 99% blocked.

His “widow maker” was blocked, Rihm said.

Kohl was successfully stented and that allowed circulation to return to the areas of the heart that hadn’t been receiving blood flow. He was released from the hospital nine days later.

Rihm said that of the roughly 356,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests that occur annually in the United States, nearly 90% are fatal.

After the ceremony, Kohl, wearing a “I survived the widow maker heart attack. What have you done today?” T-shirt, posed for pictures with his family and firefighters.