Patient Resuscitated at Noisy Waters

First responders received a call that someone had a medical emergency and wasn’t breathing on the evening of Oct. 18. Rich Robinson, medical officer for Joint Fire Protec- tion District 3 & 8, said the incident took place at Colville Fuels Noisy Waters gas station, 34291 WA-20, in Kettle Falls. The patient – who Robinson declined to name – had stopped to get gas when the event occurred and a by- stander attempted CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) on him. “Somebody was attempting to do CPR on him. One of my firefighter first responders got there and started do- ing CPR, and one of the other EMTs (Emergency Med- ical Technicians) got there before I did and shocked him once,” said Robinson.

Kevin Olson and Kash Sly were the other first responders who were on the scene, he said. Olson and Sly could not be reached by press time. First responders then hooked the patient up to a LUCAS (Lund University Cardiopulmonary Assist System) machine, which provides chest compressions, and shocked him again, said Robinson. What was unusual about this case was that the resuscitation attempts appear to have been successful, he said. The patient began to breathe on his own, and by the time he was put on an emergency helicopter to fly him out to Spokane, he was talking. In his 35 year-long career, Robinson said he has only seen a successful resuscitation one other time. “I’ve done dozens of CPRs; I don’t know how many,” said Robinson. “It just never works out. You don’t get there in time to do any good, but this time it worked out well.” The brain can only survive for about five minutes without oxygen, said Robinson. “If you’re not getting blood flow to your brain, then your brain’s not going to come back from that,” he said. Robinson emphasized how important it is for people, especially people in rural areas, to learn how to perform CPR. “A lot of times, out here in the country, it’s a done deal before we get there,” he said.