It goes without saying that there’s never a good time or place to have a heart attack.
But if you were to have a heart attack, it’s hard to think of many places better to have one than when you’re surrounded by first responders — even if they’re students.
And, praise God, that’s the exact situation one Wisconsin EMT instructor found himself in.
According to WLUK-TV, EMT instructor Karl Arps was helping a group of trainees at Fox Valley Technical College in Greenville on March 25.
The students in the EMT-Basic course were actually practicing CPR scenarios with Arps in the back of an ambulance.
“At the time, I was putting the cuff around him to get a blood pressure, and I saw his hand kind of turn in the middle of that, right as I did it, and then I heard snoring — like his breathing was snoring, respirations. And his head was turning to the opposite end, and I’m sort of thinking to myself, ‘Dang, what symptom is he throwing at me now?’” student Logan Lehrer told WLUK.
Lehrer told WGBA-TV that Arps’ reputation for being a “really good” actor led him to hesitate about what was actually happening.
“And Karl has done scenarios where he plays the part really good, like he deserves an Oscar,” he said, before describing the exact moment he knew something was actually wrong: “You could see discoloration on his face, and we were like, OK, this is real now.”
Traci Blondeau, another instructor in the course, told WLUK that she knew right away something serious was going on.
“As I was getting in the back of the ambulance, at that point, I still wasn’t sure if it was an act or not,” Blondeau told the local Fox affiliate. “And then he did that agonal breath. You just know it when you see it.”
Turns out, Arps was, in fact, having a real heart attack. And the EMT students didn’t hesitate to leap into action.
“We got the backboard underneath him, and then we unbuckled him too, because we had him buckled,” Sofie DeValk, another student, said. “Got the backboard under him and then pulled him out and then got him on the ground.”
The students started CPR on Arps and then used a defibrillator to re-start his heart. Within minutes, Arps was conscious and breathing.
Citing Red Cross data, WGBA noted that there is only roughly a 10 percent chance of surviving a heart attack outside of a hospital.
Despite the harrowing ordeal, followed by triple bypass surgery, Arps was out of the hospital in just seven days.
“I had a heart attack — a widow maker. I was dead, I made it out of that hospital in a week,” he said.
Arps recently returned to the campus and had nothing but praise, thanks, and love for the students who saved his life.
“Whatever you guys want to do, I know you can do it, after you just proved it, saving me,” Arps told them. “So, thank you again, all of the students.”
He added: “What can I say to six students who saved my life? It’s something I will, God, never forget.”
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