OGDEN, Utah — A group of Utahns were honored Tuesday for coming together in a man’s desperate time of need. Good Samaritans and nurses from Ogden Regional Medical Center are being recognized for helping to save the life of Jeff Wilson.
Wilson, 47, collapsed and went into cardiac arrest on Thanksgiving while playing a pick-up basketball game.
“We just happened to have an incident that we were lucky enough to be prepared for. Jeff collapsed with a heart attack and luckily, we were there to know how to do CPR. I gave him the chest compressions and Rob did the breaths of life,” Hunter Clarke, one of the Good Samaritans, told FOX 13 News.
Robert Matasic, another of the Good Samaritans, said, “It took a collective effort of everyone that was there that day to support each other do what we knew that we could do to help give him a chance. And it was truly a miracle to be a part of that.”
Wilson’s heart restarted after an Automated External Defibrillator, or AED, was used. When first responders with the Ogden City Fire Department arrived on scene, Wilson was coherent. He was able to provide them his name and date of birth.
“It's kind of a scary, scary situation to think about… If we weren't at the school, and we didn't have that AED available, we weren't with a group of friends that knew kind of how to respond in that situation, that the outcome could have been completely different,” Clarke added.
Wilson was taken to MountainStar Healthcare’s Ogden Regional Medical Center where he was diagnosed with a near-fatal myocardial infarction, or heart attack, caused by nearly complete blockage of a major coronary artery.
“[Wilson] had almost 100% occlusion of what they call his left anterior descending artery. They commonly refer it to as the widow maker, which many people don't survive that,” Ogden City Fire Department Chief Mike Mathieu explained.
Chief Mathieu says that it was thanks to the quick and decisive actions of his friends and fellow community members that Wilson was able to receive life-saving treatment, including a successful stent placement to restore blood flow and prevent permanent damage to his heart muscle.
Wilson continues to attend cardiac rehabilitation at Ogden Regional where he’s continually progressed – recording a four-mile run on Tuesday morning.
“MountainStar Healthcare – Ogden Regional Medical Center – is absolutely amazing. From my two days is all I spent in the hospital, but the cardiac rehab that I've been going through gives me the confidence to get back up, keep going, and the technicians there are top notch. I love every second. I have fun with them. I feel like a hamster on a treadmill, but it gets you going,” Wilson said.
He is thankful to everyone and everything involved in saving his life, including the technology that jump-started his heart at the scene. Wilson believes AEDs should be everywhere so they can help anyone at a moment’s notice.
“It saved my life,” Wilson said. “My daughter's leaving on a mission next week, so I got to speak with her last week. You just can't take that for granted and be thankful enough, so I'm not lucky. I'm blessed.”
Chief Mathieu added to that sentiment, ‘We really want to work and focus on cardiac arrest; resuscitation and we need the community's help. We need automatic defibrillators wherever people are gathered – all kinds of public places so they can be readily made available to help save someone in this situation.”
At Tuesday’s Ogden City Council meeting, seven people were recognized for their life-saving actions, receiving a joint proclamation from the mayor and city council for what they call “heroic efforts.” The healthcare workers from Ogden Regional who took part in Wilson’s care in the ER and in the cath lab were also publicly recognized.
The Ogden Fire Department encourages the community to engage with the PulsePoint mobile app, which notifies trained citizens of nearby cardiac emergencies. Studies show that immediate CPR significantly improves survival rates.
