By, Scott Shetler
I have been working in the health and fitness industry as a personal trainer for almost 10 years now. Currently I run my own business training individuals and small groups and, in addition to this, I am the director of an upscale private fitness facility for a country club just outside of Atlanta. My clientele is about 50% general fitness and 50% competitive athletes ranging from recreational to professional and every level in between.
Ever since I tested for and received my first personal training certification, I have been required to attend regular CPR certification classes and hold a current certification card both for the personal trainer certification organization as well as my employer. This basically used to be an annual pain in the ass for me, for lack of a better term. It was 4 hours that I wasn’t getting commission on top of my salary and I typically approached it as such. In the last three years I have been involved in two emergency events that have changed my outlook on this very important program.
About 5 years ago the company that provides our CPR/First Aid training began including automated external defibrillator (AED) training in our annual certification courses. In addition to this, our club purchased 6 Philips Heartstart AED’s and emergency oxygen units.
If you are unfamiliar with these awesome life-saving devices you need to change this. An AED is a portable electronic device that diagnoses the potentially life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias of ventricular fibrillation (V-Fib) and ventricular tachycardia (VTach) in a patient, and is able to treat them by application of electrical therapy which stops the arrhythmia, allowing the heart to re-establish an effective rhythm. Or in layman’s terms it will shock the heart.
The beauty of the defibrillator is that it is totally fool-proof and will not authorize a shock unless the heart has gone into one of the two shockable rhythms of either V-Fib or VTach. If the unit does not read one of these rhythms is will simply not authorize a shock so there is no chance for an accident. The other cool feature about the AED is that once you turn it on it talks you through all the steps in treating a patient including reminders to check airway, pulse, perform CPR if necessary, etc. I can tell you firsthand that no matter how much training in CPR and First Aid you have, the first emergency you have to respond to will make your forget everything you learned and you have to focus really hard to try to stay in the moment and do the right thing to ensure the patient has the best chance of survival once the EMT’s and Paramedics arrive.
In the fall of 2004 we had a member of the country club fitness center collapse while simply standing still talking with another member who was riding a stationary cycle. Fortunately the client I was training at the time was an ER nurse and our aquatics director happened to be training a client in the fitness center so we were fortunate to have a few CPR-trained individuals on hand for this emergency. Once this happened we activated our emergency response system, called 911 and attended to the patient. While I retrieved the AED and emergency O2 unit, our aquatics director and my client began rescue breathing. It took me less than a minute to get the AED open, turned on and get the sticky pads attached to the patient’s chest and torso. Once the AED analyzed the patient it authorized a shock immediately. By this point the patient was clearly not breathing, his head had turned dark purple and my mind was a whirlwind of information. What was I supposed to do first? What did they teach us in training? God I wish we had a paramedic on-site. Again, once I turned the AED on I calmed down because it reminded me of everything I needed to do. After administering a shock, the patient began a regular heart rhythm and my client and I began performing CPR. After a few rounds of CPR the patient was breathing on his own, although still coherent, so we strapped the O2 mask on him to get pure, fresh O2 into his system. At this point nearly ten minutes had gone by and the Paramedics, EMT’s, Fire Fighters and Law Enforcement Officers arrived on the scene to take over and do what they do best, save lives. It was an absolute honor to see these professionals do their job and function like the well-oiled machine they are. I tip my hat to those of you who save lives on a daily basis; you do an amazing and unfortunately, an often unappreciated job. God-bless you all.
Fortunately we received word that this patient made a full recovery and hopefully with some dietary modifications and regular exercise, was well on his way to a healthier life.
Ironically I had a CPR/AED recertification scheduled for the very next day after this incident took place. Believe me, I approached this training with a completely different mindset than I did in the past and was all ears and full of questions. I will never take this training for granted again, but hoped I would never have to use the training again. And I didn’t, that is, until the fall of 2007.
Fast forward three years to the fall of 2007. Another member was working out in our fitness center and collapsed and got wedged between the seat and the weight stack of a Nautilus machine. One of the trainers I work with, Svetlana, and I responded by checking his vitals. When we made the assessment that he was not coherent and needed attention, we carefully pulled him out from being tangled up in the machine and laid him on the floor where we could attend to him. Check breathing, nothing; check pulse, nothing; this guy was in trouble. We called 911 and immediately put our AED on him. Again a shock was authorized. This time I was much more in control and was able to keep a clear head, however the adrenaline was pumping. After the shock Svetlana and I performed about 4 rounds of CPR and the patient, although not coherent, began breathing on his own. We attached the O2 mask and at this point the emergency response squad showed up. This was at about 5 minutes after calling 911! These Paramedics and Fire Fighters we have down here are awesome man! Again, we received word that this patient, after spending a day under heavy sedation, made a full recovery. Nothing felt better than seeing him walk into the fitness center with a smile on his face and gave me a big hug and thank Svetlana and myself for being here to attend to him throughout his emergency situation. The town of Sandy Springs is making a big push to educate people, both privately and in business, on the importance of CPR/AED training and education. The club president and I were both invited to the City of Sandy Springs town hall meeting in which we were presented with an award for responding to the emergency at the club and personally thanked by the mayor for promoting AED/CPR education.
I can honestly say I never thought I would be in a position, let alone twice, in which my decisions and actions could have made the difference between someone living or dying. I am very thankful for the education and training I have received and cannot recommend enough that all of you, regardless of what you do or where you work, take the time to learn CPR, First Aid and AED use. This stuff is important and it saves lives so take the time to get educated and certified so that if God-forbid you are ever present in an emergency situation you will have a better understanding of what to do in order to give the patient the best possible chance for survival.
Also, if you know an EMT, Paramedic, Fire Fighter or Law Enforcement agent, take a minute and give them a pat on the back. These men and women wake up every day and save lives. Be thankful there are these people who have answered the calling to serve others. They are noble professionals and need to be respected for the job they do on a daily basis.
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Scott Shetler is the President/Owner of Scott Shetler Performance Training Systems, LLC and Director of Wellness at the Dunwoody Country Club in Dunwoody, Georgia. He is certified through the NSCA as a personal trainer and through the AKC as a kettlebell lifting coach. In addition he is certified in CPR/First Aid/AED through the American Heart Association and is an advocate of CPR/AED training in the workplace. For more information or to contact Scott visit his website as www.scottshetler.com.
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