PORT ANGELES — Off-duty Port Angeles emergency responders were able to respond quickly to a man suffering a heart attack thanks at least in part to a local business owner’s forethought in purchasing a life-saving device, they said.
“My doctor told me I was the poster child for being in the right place at the right time with the right people because otherwise it would have turned out completely different,” said Shane Arnott, 43, of Pasco, a competitor who collapsed April 30 at StormKing CrossFit, 304 W. Front St.
A group of firefighters who were taking part in or observing the athletic competition, the Age is Just a Number masters competition for athletes 40 and older, immediately determined his heart had stopped beating, began cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and called 9-1-1, said Fire Captain Jamie Mason.
However, they didn’t have to wait for their on-duty brethren to arrive with medical equipment to get the man’s heart started again.
Adrianne Rygaard, co-owner and head coach at StormKing, had purchased an automated external defibrillator (AED) for the gym, and the firefighters put it to use.
They delivered one shock to the man’s heart and resumed CPR.
After a minute, the man began breathing and his heart started again, according to the fire department, which did not identify the man because of privacy concerns.
‘I woke up’
Arnott, who notified StormKing that he wanted to speak about the experience to reporters, said that he had recovered from competing and was cheering others on when “the next thing I know is I woke up. I thought I had just went to sleep.
“Everybody was standing around me,” Arnott said. “They had just finished giving me CPR and given me a shock and restarted my heart.
“I had had a heart attack and had no idea.”
Since then Arnott has been diagnosed with blockages in two arteries.
Three stents were placed in the arteries during a procedure at the Swedish Cherry Hill campus in Seattle.
Headed for recovery
“Otherwise my heart is healthy,” Arnott said last week. “I am expected to recover 100 percent. . . I should be back to 100 percent in six weeks.”
Arnott, who owns a crossfit gym in Pasco with his wife, Angie, put the cause of his heart problem to two causes: genetics and past bad habits.
“It does run in my family,” he said.
And when he was in his late 20s and early 30s, “I was severely overweight,” weighing 270 pounds, and didn’t exercise.
Time bomb
He was a “ticking time bomb” from “damage that I had done to myself when I wasn’t taking care of myself,” he said.
“It was a combination of those two factors.”
He lost 70 pounds and got himself in shape.
“It was a long road back, but I’ve been continuing to do that,”Arnott said.
“My doctor said that my current fitness level is was one of the reasons I was able to come through this like I did.”
Arnott said he wanted others to know that fitness counts, at whatever age it is accomplished.
“I’d be remiss for not saying something,” he said.
Take care of yourself
“It’s not about being a fitness junkie. It’s about taking care of yourself so you can live a better life outside the gym.
“Without some kind of activity in our lives, these things can and will happen.”
Arnott also wanted to emphasize the value of AEDs — and training to provide a quick response to the unexpected.
“Everybody who was there from Crossfit, the fire department, Olympic Medical Center — everyone who rendered aid — I can’t say enough about how well they treated” him, he said.
“If it weren’t for the combined efforts of all these people I wouldn’t be talking to you today. That’s a fact.”
Said Lt. Kevin Denton of the Port Angeles Fire Department: “Doctors are saying that it is because of the quick response with an AED that the gentleman is alive today.”
Rygaard said she became familiar with the AED while working at the YMCA, and purchased one for her own fitness gym when it opened in 2013.
“I believe every business should have one,” Rygaard said.
The device cost about $1,200, she said.
‘Worth every penny’
“It was worth every penny. How do you put a dollar amount on someone’s life?” she said Thursday.
AED devices are becoming more common in Port Angeles businesses and schools.
Port Angeles School District has placed AEDs in many buildings, and the Port Angeles Police Department has stocked one in each patrol car.
“We just had an AED training for Roosevelt [Elementary School],” said Tina Smith-O’Hara, spokeswoman for the school district.
Current first aid and CPR training includes training on AEDs, so anyone with a current certification can use an AED, Mason said.
“When they’re needed, they’re invaluable,” he said.
First Aid and CPR training classes are offered by most area fire departments, at Peninsula College, and by the Olympic Peninsula Chapter of the American Red Cross, which has offices in Sequim and Port Townsend.
The timely rescue was the second time an AED has been used in Port Angeles in the past five years since the devices have been made available in the area, Mason said.
The first use of an AED was by a Port Angeles police officer several years ago, he said.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
Executive Editor Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3530 or at lleach@peninsuladailynews.com.