Chooee sends us a link to the story of Army Special Agent John Zoerhof, instructor at the U.S. Army Military Police School at Fort Leornard Wood, Missouri. He was at Walmart recently when he saw a woman struggling to keep a man upright. Zoerhof offered to help the woman;
“I asked the lady, ‘Ma’am, is he OK?’ and she just looked at me with a glossed looked in her eyes, and I knew right away that she was high on something or just drunk,” Zoerhof said in a press release issued by the military. “When I told her to call 911, she said, ‘No, don’t call 911!’ and I told her, ‘Look lady, he’s going to die. I mean he’s dead right now.’”
Zoerhof said he called the paramedics right away and informed them there was no sign of life and the man’s eyes had rolled back in his head.
Like the rest of us, he was trained to give CPR but he had never had to actually do it on a real person, so he started the procedure until paramedics arrived. The last word was that the old crackhead was released from the hospital that same day.
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26 responses to “Special Agent John Zoerhof saving the world”
Giving cpr for the first time is an experience. Live people feel different than dummies.
Good job man.
In that case, Agent Zoerhof likely noticed no difference…
Probably not. There are times with CPR where you fight the guy for compressions. I like the ambu bags myself, but they don’t always work.
Many, MANY long years ago, as a newly trained Emergency Medical Technician, I was on a ride along with a Bountiful, Utah police officer, and we responded to a heart attack.
It was a very old man sitting dead in his chair.
We laid him on the floor, and as the officer began the compressions, I performed the respirations.
Naturally, the initial compressions broke the sternum and rib cage (a normal event in elderly patients), resulting in blood and vomit surging into my mouth.
We successfully rescusitated him, but he died later in the hospital.
Afterwards, the experienced police officer advised me to chew some mint flavored gum.
I did compressions on an elderly man once. I cringe thinking of that.
First time I actually gave CPR was when I was driving down a highway in Maine on the way to a girlfriends house and saw a guy lieing in the driveway next to a snowblower. He had a heart attack and people just drove right by the guy. I slammed on the brakes, went back, turned him over then ran to the house to tell his daughter to call 911, went back and started CPR. Kept it up till the Para’s got there. He revived for a little while but died in the hospital. At least he got to say goodby to his family.
The Walmart outside the front gate at Ft. Leaonard Wood is a never ending parade of riff-raff…
Maybe you’ll find a few of them here:
http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/
You need to put a warning up before a link to that site.
Brain bleach is required after viewing.
😉
Wal Mart’s outside of any post are full of riff-raff. Try the ones near Ft. Bragg…ugh…
CPR w/ mouth-to-mouth on a crackhead? I’m thinking I’m there. I’m thinking she says, “No, don’t call 911!” I’m thinking I respond, “No problem. Hey, do you know here I’ll find coffee filters in this place?”
Never get the mouth!!!! Always take the chest, if there’s only you, still take the chest.
No problemo. If there’s only me and it’s not a kid or a really attractive woman, I’ll say a prayer and call 911.
If you’re feeling charitable, you can always bend over the victim’s head, cup your hands around your mouth and whisper, “this isn’t your lucky day”.
The first time I did CPR I was working in a hospital as an orderly. Anyway, one of our patients coded and I was first in the room. I looked at his face and his tongue was sticking out of a hairy, covered with his recently eaten dinner, slobbery mouth.
Big time YUCK.
Needless to say, I started compressions…luckily the nurse anesthetist showed up shortly after.
He survived. I still remember when I did the first chest compression he flopped around on the bed like a rag doll on speed.
The “man on the street” CPR they teach now only recommends chest compressions. No mouth to mouth.
Yup. Been that way for a couple of years now.
(Annual CPR/First Aid training.)
Ambu bags are your friend.
I hate using Ambu bag rescusitator masks.
I could never master the art of maintaining a tight seal over the patient’s nose and mouth, while simultaneously pressing the bag.
While attempting to do that, I lost a patient.
I was later told he may have already been dead, but I still live with the memory and my own doubt.
Not often that Darwin gets bitch-slapped. But with that crackhead, he won’t be disappointed for long.
I’ve done CPR as a Corpsman, in a Navy Hospital and once at the 3RD MED BN Dispensary at Hansen. In 1980s, driving from San Fran to East Coast upon returning from Guam, I performed CPR by myself in a restaurant on a young female cook (about 35 y/o) who suffered an MI. I asked for help but got none. Guess they didn’t want to get involved. She came back and was alive when I resumed my trip. The staff told me she had a history of cardiac problems. Only about 35 y/o. Jeez.
One day my dog collapsed in the lake water a few yards from shore. I struggled to get him to dry ground, pointed his head downhill and then ran to the tool shed to drag a welding oxy tank to him. I opened the valve with my hand cupped over his snout and then ran for my truck. I backed the truck down to him and to my amazement he stood up and got in the back seat. Got him to the vet within thirty minutes but he died the next day. Never did figure out what happened.
BZ, anyway. My first code was this year, New Year’s day. 74yo woman. Myself, another EMT, a medic. And police officer worked her for 45min. Never got her back
CPR is basically busy work. It never hurts to try, but a lot depends on factors way beyond the control of the Good Samaritan or even the EMTs, as to whether the patient will survive the efforts to help them. Still doesn’t hurt to try, though.
Who remembers “mask to mouth” resuscitation with the M17A1 mask?
I had to be a salesman as an NBC NCO but even I couldn’t buy that Arizona beachfront property…