Cardiac Arrest Survivor to Reunite with Rescuers; CPR and AEDs are Lifesavers

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This Thursday, Ronald Shinn will have the opportunity to thank the two bystanders who helped saved his life last December when he experienced a sudden cardiac arrest. Shinn, age 67, collapsed while walking across a parking lot at the Providence Tigard Business Center.

Fortunate for Shinn, Providence Security Guard John Pilon and Providence eHealth Regional Medical Director Ray Costantini were nearby and immediately came to his aid. The pair began CPR and utilized an on-site automatic external defibrillator (AED) to shock Shinn's dying heart. Emergency crews from Metro West Ambulance and Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue arrived on scene approximately three minutes later. A single shock by paramedics converted Shinn's heart back to a normal rhythm and he was immediately loaded into the ambulance. While en route to the hospital, paramedics continued advanced life support measures. Remarkably, Shinn was semi-conscious and attempting to speak to paramedics when he arrived at the hospital. He was able to leave the hospital three days later.

The survival rate for cardiac arrest patients is bleak; the national average for patients who live to be discharged from a hospital is about 5 percent. However, TVF&R's survival rate over the past three years has ranged from 10.8 percent to 22.9 percent - making it among the top in the nation. TVF&R attributes its strong survival rates to several factors: quick calls to 9-1-1, dispatchers instructing callers to perform Hands-Only CPR, the growing availability of AEDs in the region, and TVF&R's quick EMS response.

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