CPR saviors thanked

MOSES LAKE - Don West was standing in line at a Moses Lake grocery store on Aug. 2 when he collapsed because of cardiac arrest.

Grant County Sheriff's Deputy Larry Sanchez and Moses Lake Police Officer Dean Gaddis, who were having coffee nearby, immediately called for help and started CPR while waiting for medics.

"My chest today, thanks to these gentlemen, is so sore," West, who is in his 70s, said Tuesday. "From the bottom of my heart, thank you."

The officers received recognition by Moses Lake Fire Chief Tom Taylor for helping save West's life, as well as a standing ovation from West's wife Harriet and about 18 members of their family, some of whom were visiting from Texas.

"This is one of the success story right here," Taylor said. "Without your efforts Don wouldn't be here today."

"Dean always just happens to be in the right place at the right time and fortunately this time he was," Moses Lake Police Chief Dean Mitchell said of Gaddis.

West said the incident has given him and his wife a new purpose - to encourage as many people as possible to take CPR training. West takes the training once every few years as part of his work as a caretaker for disabled adults, but he said his firsthand experience brought home the vital importance of spreading the lifesaving knowledge of CPR.

The couple plan to lobby businesses and organizations to get them to see the need for having an automated external defibrillator on hand. It is a portable electronic device that electronically reestablishes an effect heartbeat in cardiac arrest patients.

They've already convinced their own church pastor.

"For a couple of years God has placed on Harriet's heart to get an AED machine in our church but for one reason or another it just hasn't happened," said Kent Copley, executive pastor of Moses Lake Alliance Church and a chaplain with the Moses Lake Police Department. "We're committed as a congregation to getting one of these right away."

Grant County Sheriff Tom Jones expressed thanks for the lifesaving work of emergency personnel such as Sanchez and Gaddis.

"I appreciate what they do every day," he said. "I just wish more people would take advantage of those first aid classes."

While they weren't officially honored in Tuesday afternoon's ceremony, Taylor later acknowledged the efforts of several Moses Lake firefighter paramedics and EMTs who responded Aug. 2.

Paul Guerin, Todd Schanze, Eric Shurtz, Travis Pulliam, Todd Eldred and Andrew Deering arrived on scene to assist.

Moses Lake Fire Department personnel have performed CPR on ten cardiac arrest victims in the past year, Taylor said. Of those, nine were delivered to the hospital with full "return of spontaneous circulation,"  an impressive track record Taylor credited to solid training and a rapid response time average of 4.7 minutes anywhere within the city limits.

"I've had the opportunity to hang out with these officers and to see how they truly are our finest," Copley said. "Thank you for serving the way you do."