A construction worker in Telluride suffered a heart attack on the job site and was aided by co-workers and paramedics; it was the second such instance involving the same man and same responders in a three-year span.
The same 55-year-old Nucla man who suffered the attack Monday suffered a previous heart attack, also in Telluride, in August 2012.
Both time co-workers aided the victim, by immediately performing CPR, and the quick action, along with subsequent emergency response, saved the man’s life, twice, according to a Telluride Fire Protection District media release.
“This is a great example of why bystander CPR is so important,” Brad Blackwell, a responding paramedic, said in the release. ” Without immediate, quality chest compressions, our EMS team would likely not have been able to save him.”
The patient was treated at the Telluride Medical Center on Monday and then flown to St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction for further specialized care.
“Estimates of survival from an out of hospital cardiac arrest are around 10 percent,” Telluride EMS Medical Director Dr. Diana Koelliker said in the release. “Survival after a second out of hospital cardiac arrest within a few years is even more rare, especially in such a small community as Telluride with many of the same coworkers, EMS providers and physician involved both times.”
Koelliker also credited bystander involvement as a key in the life-saving response.
To learn CPR and automated external defibrillator applications contact your local EMS and fire protection district.
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822, knicholson@denverpost.com or @kierannicholson
