Parents use AED to save stricken ref

MINOOKA - Minooka Fire Chief Al Yancey is describing it as a life-saving feat. Four parents at a Minooka Intermediate School basketball game rushed from the bleachers to save the life of referee Mike Fazio. Fazio had fallen unconscious at halftime of the sixth-grade girls basketball game on Thursday night. “The reaction couldn't have been better if we orchestrated it,” Dist. 201 Superintendent Al Gegenheimer said Friday afternoon. “Four parents reacted and everything went exactly as it should go.” According to Minooka Fire Protection District Ambulance reports, at 4:59 p.m. on Thursday, the ambulance was dispatched to Minooka Intermediate School on a report of a person not breathing. Upon arrival, the paramedics reported, they found four bystanders performing CPR and using an automatic external defibrillator on a patient on the floor. According to staff reports, Gegenheimer said, when Fazio fell to the floor, Jeff and Jan Kreis of Shorewood, Jeanine Vogt of Minooka, and Michele Cermak of Minooka rushed out of the bleachers and began administrating CPR. When Cermak arrived at Fazio's side, she said, he was foaming out of his mouth and she initially thought he was having a seizure. “He was cold and clammy and barely had a pulse,” she said. “We then lost his pulse and his breathing was faint. We could tell we were losing him.” Jan Kreis said that, when she saw Fazio fall, she saw all the symptoms for a cardiac problem and reacted immediately. After losing a pulse and respiration, Jeff Kreis began chest compressions as Vogt gave mouth to mouth. Minooka Intermediate Principal Harold King, who was not in the gym at the time Fazio fell, brought the AED to the group working on Fazio. “Someone handed me an AED and I opened it while Jan applied the pads,” Cermak said. “We all cleared and she gave a shock and we watched him slowly come out of it.” Cermak said they all communicated as a team and, after finding out they all had medical experience, she felt grateful for the experience they each brought. Jeff Kreis is a registered nurse who works for Gift of Hope as an organ transplant coordinator after working in a pediatric intensive care unit. Jan Kreis has been a nurse for 20 years and works as a cardiac nurse. Vogt is a paramedic and Cermak worked eight years in a cardiology unit as a CAN and had an EMT license, which has since expired. Jan Kreis said she has never before had to use her skills outside of the hospital and she credit's the AED, not her efforts, with saving Fazio's life. “He had no heart beat. No amount of chest compressions or mouth to mouth was going to bring him back,” she said. “He needed a shock to save his life. The AED is a lifesaver.” Jan Kreis and Cermak said they never thought twice about going to Fazio's aid. “He was dying,” Kreis said. “He needed help. I never thought twice.” Fazio was transported to a local hospital, where it was reported Friday he was doing fine. Gegenheimer said the district currently has AEDs in all schools. They are required by Illinois law since 2005 and most schools relied on donations from foundations and local community groups to obtain them. “Minooka Fire Protection District reminds everyone to learn CPR,” Chief Yancey said in a press release. “The Good Samaritans in this incident knew the life-saving techniques of CPR, and had access to an AED. “It can take an ambulance three to five minutes, once called, to arrive on the scene of a medical emergency. Early intervention in cardiac arrest is highly important. Immediate administration of CPR and AEDs can mean the difference of life or death.” CPR classes are available throughout the region at hospitals, fire departments and the community colleges. AED's are becoming common place in churches, schools and public buildings.