By Carina A. Brunson

Chimney Park RV Resort had all their ducks in a row earlier this month when a jammer had a near death experience during the parks Rock n’ Roll jam. Thanks to the fast-acting attendees, activity director, and the Coast Guard, a man’s life was saved.

As James Kropenske put it, they were very fortunate that everything happened the way it did, there were people on hand to assist, and they had an AED in the building.

“It was beautiful having multiple people that were …. Experienced or retired,” said James.

It all happened during a jam the park was putting on. The jammers were playing, and Bill went down with a sudden heart attack.

James, retired EMT and law enforcement, along with the help of another retired officer, Jose, and two retired nurses, Debbie and Marilyn, went into action. They started triage type procedures immediately – locating a heartbeat (wasn’t there) and checking other vitals. They also called 911 immediately.

James said the AED device was less than 30 feet away from where they were. It didn’t take much to get the machine working and hooked up to Bill.
Another quick-thinking attendee, unknown to James at the time, had gone outside to contact the Border Patrol, who are a constant, welcoming force, at Chimney Park. The Border Patrol was able to contact the Coast Guard who were patrolling the area and bring in someone who was an EMT before working for the Coast Guard.

With this much help, they were able to take turns doing CPR and using the AED device.

He said the device is easy to use. Directions are straight forward, and they were able to use the device and get a heartbeat back before paramedics arrived.

I asked George Wyant with Mission Fire Department more about the AED device. He said the device is pretty ‘monkey proof.’ It talks to you and lets you know each step you need to take to get the machine to work. There are also diagrams of where to put the leads, he said, and it will tell you if something isn’t connected right. If it’s all good, it will immediately start working – but it won’t shock until you press the button.

“It walks you through the whole process,” he said.

I would love to see an AED at all the parks, said Wyant, and at all assembly type of locations – churches, stores, etc.

“If it saves just one life, it’s worth it.”

Cathy Sutton, who works at both Chimney Park and Seven Oaks, says the park has bought a second device to have on hand since once used, the machine requires a bit of maintenance before it can be used again. While they wait for the necessary maintenance and parts that were used, they still have another device that can be used in case the need arises again.

Sutton said they were all lucky that the incident wasn’t worse. U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Coddington had his ‘go bag’ ready to go and with that, and what they had at the park, they were able to help Bill ‘get on his feet’ again.

She said it’s a good device to have on hand. With serving the senior population, who wouldn’t want to save someone? Many parks worry about the liability of it all, but if a need like this arose, it would be better to have it than not.

“We care about our residents,” she said. It’s definitely a benefit.

James did mention the Good Samaritan law that Texas has. With this a person is protected when helping someone if there is good intent and you are trying to save someone, or their property.

George said there is a little more to it than that too. But the gist of it is that, if you are trying to save someone, and are using any means necessary to do so, whether they are conscious or not, you are protected.

After all, George said, it’s about doing the right thing.

Because of this incident, James said he thinks there are many things that could be improved.

He said there are a few things people should do in case something happens to them. You should let someone know where you are going, how long you will be, and make sure you have identification on you.

He was lucky he knew who Bill was since he had met him at a previous event, and he had little details about him since he signed up to play. He was able to pinpoint what park he had come from, and law enforcement was able to find his wife to take her to the hospital to meet up with him.

Also, the park will be having Richard Cruz, training coordinator from Mission Fire Department, visit and do demonstrations with an AED device and CPR with a dummy. He hopes this will allow residents some time to ask questions and familiarize themselves with the equipment and procedures that could be used to help save someone’s life. So, if the need arises, people won’t be so intimidated to step in.

A little over a week ago, Bill was able to be present as the Coast Guard was given an award for his actions during the event.

Bill has stayed in contact with James and has been to a couple of events at the park since the ordeal. James said that Bill has told him many times about how appreciative he is of the actions that were taken to save him, and he doesn’t know where he’d be now if he wasn’t at Chimney Park that day.

All in all, James said they are so very blessed, with not only having the equipment on hand, retired nurses around, but also having the Border Patrol and Coast Guard nearby.

It wasn’t a good thing to happen, but everything came together for the perfect outcome.

Also noteworthy, is the AED device used is a Heart Sine SAM 350 AMP. The company has a donation program of survivors to contribute paying it forward by submitting a brief statement of the rescue event to them and they will donate a unit to the charity of their choice – which is what Bill is currently doing to help save other lives.