Speed Essential in Recent Cardiac Save

Sam Humgerbuhler was attending a basketball game at Queen of Angels Catholic School in Roswell late last year when he suddenly collapsed and lost consciousness.

“My last thought was that the boys floated up to the ceiling,” recalled the 41-year-old with no history of heart disease. “Then I fell to the floor in between the bleachers.”  

His wife Trish Humgerbuhler, a nurse in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Children’s, shouted for someone to call 9-1-1 and get the AED she knew was stored in the private school’s cafeteria. Then she immediately began applying CPR with another nurse in the audience.

The AED indicated that two shocks were needed, so she was able to administer both before EMS arrived within five minutes to rush Humgerbuhler to St. Joseph’s Hospital of Atlanta.

He was found to have 100 percent blockage in the arteries leading to his heart on the right side and 75 to 85 percent on the left, and surgeons placed two stents.

“When I was recovering, the doctors said they were astonished I was alive,” Humgerbuhler said. “They said if it hadn’t been for using the CPR and AED quickly, I really shouldn’t be here."

While the Queen of Angels save did not directly involve school clinic staff Robbin Spinner and Rae Ann Gruver, RN, the two have the responsibility of ensuring AED batteries and pads are updated regularly, as well as training teachers and other school staff how to administer CPR and the AED.

“These roles are typical, crucial ones played by school nurses,” said Sheila Vahey, Johns Creek Cluster Nurse for Fulton County Schools. “If the AED is not properly maintained, it won’t work in an emergency when a life is on the line.”

Recent cardiac saves and awards for heart safety demonstrate the importance of having an automated external defibrillator (AED) at schools and a school nurse to maintain this life-saving tool and teach teachers and staff how to apply CPR and the AED in an emergency.

Three lives (two adults and one student) have been saved so far in the 2011-12 school year at schools participating in Project S.A.V.E. (Sudden Cardiac Death: Awareness, Vision for Prevention and Education), a program created by Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta to educate school systems and doctors about pediatric sudden cardiac death, making them aware of its incidence, possible early warning signs and the need for a timely response.

It’s likely 32 people (13 students and 19 adults) who have survived since Project S.A.V.E.’s founding in 2004 are due to receiving a sudden jolt of electricity to their heart administered with an AED present and easily accessible at that school, said Children’s Project S.A.V.E. Coordinator Alison Ellison. Ellison also chairs the Georgia Association of School Nurses’ (GASN) Cardiovascular Task Force and has trained more than 500 school nurses across Georgia as CPR instructors.

“The consequences of not having staff [heart healthy] awareness at school, and a first responder team ready to go, can be horrific,” Ellison added. “Everyone needs to know what sudden cardiac arrest looks like and understand time is critical, because you have only three minutes to respond.”

Just 7.9 percent, or 23,700, of the approximately 300,000 Americans who suffer a heart attack outside of a hospital annually survive. A major reason why this group survives is that the attack happens not at home but in a public place with an AED present, according to a 2011 national study led by John Hopkins University-led researchers. Cardiovascular disease, including heart attack and stroke, is the number one killer for both men and women nationwide and in the state of Georgia. 

Nurses also are often leaders in helping schools develop heart safety response plans, encouraging and coordinating practice drills, working with parent and community groups to educate and seek donations for equipment, communicating with EMS and local fire and rescue, and following up after an incident with debriefing, data collection and school reentry healthcare plans when a student is involved, Vahey added.

To emphasize the life-saving necessity of having an AED on campus, having school staff trained in CPR and AED use, and having a heart safety advocate on campus, Project S.A.V.E. also presented its first two Georgia “Karen Smith Awards” this fall.

Named after an outstanding Wisconsin school nurse who died of cancer, the awards program was founded by Project A.D.A.M., a national heart-safety initiative which oversees state programs such as Project S.A.V.E.

Teresa Weeks, school nurse at Ellijay Elementary School and Crossroads Alternative School in Gilmer County, was honored for advocating for and leading comprehensive CPR/AED training which have already resulted in a school staff-member’s life saved. Joe Gheesling, principal of North Hall High School in Hall County, led efforts to ensure his large school has not just one, but three AEDs on campus and that staff have an emergency plan in place and are trained in its use. 

Ellison hopes to expand Project S.A.V.E. to more Georgia schools, but the nonprofit effort, funded through support from the Children’s Miracle Network, grants and private donations, is feeling the pinch of strapped economic times. Anyone interested in supporting heart safety at Georgia schools through Project S.A.V.E. can make a donation at https://giving.choa.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=695.

The GASN Cardiovascular Task Force is one of six task forces focusing on specific health conditions and related issues. Other GASN task forces focus on Asthma, Cancer, Tobacco Use Prevention, Oral Health and Immunization. For more information, visit www.gasn.org.