Never Give Up

"He said a guy had fallen on the sidewalk," Al Lodermeier says. At that moment, Don Shulte, owner of the grocery store, walked in. The three ran back to where Snitzer lay on the sidewalk. He wasn't breathing. He had no pulse. If he didn't get help soon, he would die.

For the next 96 minutes — more than an hour and a half — Al, his brother Roy, bystander Candace Koehn, who saw Snitzer fall, and more than two dozen other first responders took turns performing CPR on the fallen man. Their teamwork saved Snitzer's life, in what may be one of the longest, successful out-of-hospital resuscitations ever.

Besides being a good story, there's a couple of things to think about.  First, this is what we should do when someone collapses.  Second, CPR is an evolving practice.  For example, little pigtail Bonnie was watching cartoons when a public service message came on showing CPR basics.  "Hey Mom, wouldn't blowing into lungs full of water just make it worse?" Twenty years later, someone decided that same thing, and the guidelines have changed.  Mouth to mouth has also been removed from CPR in general.  We owe it as a public obligation to know the basics and stay up to date, and to use them whenever we can help.  And, of course, never give up.