A heart attack survivor reunites with first responders and good Samaritans who rushed to his aid earlier this month. Rick DeSaag brings us the heartwarming reunion in this week’s Civic Service Report.
I hope I remember waking up to you guys.
Yeah. Earlier this month, Patrick Barrett and his wife, Lois, were checking in at the Hawaiian Airlines ticket counter at Kona International Airport when he went into cardiac arrest and blacked out. The 62 year old Washington State resident with no history of heart problems credited the firefighters and a team of good Samaritans for saving his life from us
. Oh, thank you. He and his wife got to meet and thank his rescuers one more time before they flew back home from Honolulu International Airport. I just thank God I could see him. I mean, it was a miracle.
That’s all I can describe it. One minute the lights are out and you wake up to these guys. He wasn’t breathing. He had no pulse. It’s very serious. And it’s just it’s good that we’re there in time to help him out, along with the firefighters.
Several other good Samaritans helped in the rescue. Ben Utra, a porter at Kona Airport and Hawaiian Airlines ticket agent Helen Kiyo were the first at the scene. The pair applied compression to Barrett’s chest. The firefighters continued applying compression, then used an automated external defibrillator to help revive him.
You got to take off all his, you know, his clothing, whatever. It’s like if you, you know, like whatever it’s like in the way, you know, it just took too long to sticky patches you put on top of his chest and then it fully analyzes his heart rhythm.
It’s just, you know, it needs to show these devices are credited with saving 62 lives and Hawaii’s airports. Without them, the chances of survival for a person suffering a cardiac arrest diminishes greatly. If you were to have a cardiac arrest, stay at the beach or at the mall in Hawaii or save rates are eight to 10 percent
in the community and at the airport, it’s about a 70 percent say rate. The firefighters say Baratz recovery has been inspiring. I mean, he’s here today with us, laughing and joking. It’s nice to see they did not just leave me stranded.
They they took care of Patrick, but they took care.
