Quincy Reporter

Blessing Health System issued the following announcement on Feb. 18. 

Andrew Romano was outside of the building in which he works, Kohl Wholesale in Quincy, enjoying just a moment of a beautiful late summer’s day. Little did he know a storm was brewing.

His cellphone rang.  On the other end of the line was a panicked coworker.

“We need you! We need you!” Andrew remembers the caller yelling. “There is an employee who has collapsed and we need your help!”

The caller knew Andrew had past experience as an Emergency Medical Technician and was up-to-date on CPR and use of an Automated External Defibrillator, or AED, which he was able to maintain and keep current thanks to his involvement with the CPR/AED training program through Kohl Wholesale.

When Andrew reached the Kohl Wholesale office, he found a coworker, Sherry Cantrell, unresponsive and others working to assist her.

Andrew’s experience and training kicked in as he took charge and his coworkers moved aside so he could assess the situation. He discovered Sherry was not breathing and had no pulse. Her heart had stopped. She had suffered sudden cardiac arrest, the abrupt loss of heart function, breathing and consciousness.

Each year in America, more than 350,000 cardiac arrests occur outside the hospital. The American Heart Association reports only 10 percent of those who suffer a cardiac arrest outside of the hospital setting survive. Receiving CPR immediately could as much as triple the chances of survival. Yet only about 46% of people who experience cardiac arrest receive CPR from a bystander.

On this day, the Kohl Wholesale employee would beat the odds, thanks to Andrew Romano and Sherry’s team of co-workers who jumped in to help. Andrew began chest compressions while a coworker, Sally Neill, did the CPR breathing. Soon, another director arrived on the scene with the AED. Andrew put the AED to use, shocking Sherry once and then continuing chest compressions. He noticed the color returning to her face and knew what they were doing was helping.

First responders arrived and, as Andrew continued performing chest compressions, Sherry was stabilized for the ambulance ride to Blessing Hospital.

After her remarkable recovery, Sherry was able to visit the office and one of her first official acts was to hug Andrew Romano and Sally Neill and leave a big bag of Lifesaver candy for all her co-workers who helped that day. Sherry officially returned to work on November 2. One of her team members organized an office-wide effort for employees to write welcome back notes on hearts which were in Sherry’s office waiting for her return.

“I was very fortunate,” she observed. “There is a chance that if I had been working anywhere else my outcome may not have been the same. It was a miracle that I was in the right place at the right time. CPR and AED awareness are key.”

The situation was shocking and emotional for Andrew and the other employees. But Andrew’s education and training carried the day. Many people thanked Andrew and began calling him a hero. He calls it team work.

“I’m not a hero,” Andrew said. “There are a lot of things that have to happen to save a life. Someone has to call 911, someone has to do chest compressions. There are a lot of little things that have to come together.”

Andrew hopes this situation will be a teaching moment for all employers and their employees.

“With the proper training you become a very powerful tool. You can make a difference between life and death. There is no second chance with death, so anything and everything you can do to help a person, you should just try it. People will be more surprised by what they can do than what they can’t,” he continued.

Sherry agrees.

“I think it’s very important to make sure people are trained and prepared. I hope that other businesses can provide the same training to their employees,” she stated. “I want to do anything I can to help educate the community and show people what can happen with the right preparation.”

 “Many people say ‘I hope I’ll never have to do that’. We all hope we never have to do it. But at the end of the day we don’t live in a hope world. We live in a reality world. It will happen and we have to be prepared the best we can,” Andrew concluded. Thankfully, Kohl Wholesale’s team, including over 40 CPR/AED-trained employees, were well prepared and learned that day just how valuable the training program is for an employee in need.

Original source can be found here. 

Source: Blessing Health System