Ceremony honors life-savers

SUPERIOR – Mineral County resident Karen Schwatrzkopf is alive today thanks to the efforts of first responders and those who were on the scene of her cardiac arrest and performed CPR on her.

The efforts of all those involved in treating Schwarzkopf was recognized at a brief ceremony Wed., Aug. 13, at the Superior Ambulance Facility. Approximately 5 minutes of the actual 911 call was played followed by a short presentation of certificates to those who helped save Schwarzkopf’s life.

One of the organizers of the event, Mineral Community Hospital Customer Service Specialist Monte Turner, said the event was a way to recognize those who keep community members safe.

Turner said, contrary to what he thought, keeping someone alive with CPR is relatively rare.

“In cases of cardiac arrest, it’s really rare for a person to be revived like that,” Turner said. “I think we are led to believe by television and movies that this happens all the time but it just doesn’t really work that way.”

According to information provided by Turner, the only effective treatment for sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is defibrillation within minutes. Survival rates drop seven to ten percent every minute defibrillation is delayed and the average response time for Emergency Medical Services is eight to ten minutes.

The information stated less than eight percent of people who suffer cardiac arrest outside the hospital survive making Schwarzkopf’s survival all the more impressive.

Turner said in Schwarzkopf’s case, everything worked the way it was supposed to from the dispatcher talking her husband through CPR, to the quick arrival of EMTs and the work to bring her back.

“Everything clicked in this case,” Turner said. “The dispatchers kept those on the scene calm. They performed CPR until the EMTs arrived and took over and she was transported to the hospital where she was stabilized and the helicopter took her to St. Pat’s.”

A person familiar with how rare it is to survive cardiac arrest away from a hospital said he only knew of two cases where someone had been brought back by CPR and other procedures. Pat Metzger has been an EMT in Superior for 25 years and he said it is extremely rare.

“I’ve been involved in only one case in 25 years,” Metzger said. “I wasn’t directly involved in this one but it’s only the second one in the area that I know of.”

According to the American Heart Association, cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death in the United States. Every year, emergency medical resources treat approximately 360,000 cases of cardiac arrest where the patient is not in a hospital.

The information also confirmed Turner’s information that less than ten percent of those patients survive.