Linda Kay Wolfe (front and center) recently celebrated her successful recovery from cardiac arrest at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire where she is a shopkeeper. Joining her were her two friends who started CPR on her and the first responders who came to her aid.
Linda Kay Wolfe, a shopkeeper at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire, was standing in front of her stand last June when she suddenly fell to the groud, a victim of sudden cardiac arrest. Two friends, Judy Johnson and Brie McClaire, also Renaissance Faire shopkeepers, performed hands-only CPR until emergency responders reached the scene.
“Her friends immediately started CPR, and that’s the reason she’s alive today,” said Lori Shenk, an EMT and community outreach manager for Northwest EMS, who was volunteering with Mastersonville ambulance on the day of the incident.
Hands-only CPR, started immediately by a bystander while someone else calls 911, can triple the chances of a person surviving cardiac arrest. It’s simple to learn and no mouth-to-mouth resuscitation is required. The thought of “kissing a stranger” no longer is an excuse for not performing CPR. Just press hard and fast on the chest at a rate of 100 times a minute. Yes, it’s true, the Bee Gee’s “Stayin’ Alive” is the perfect song to hum as you’re pumping the chest.
Northwest EMS offers free hands-only CPR training every month. Call Lori at 665-2904, or 361-8220, extension 1, to find out when the next class is being held in Elizabethtown, Manheim or Maytown.
JUL
2014