A month after Karl Arps, an instructor at Fox Valley Technical College had a heart attack, while on the job, he was back on campus to thank the students and staff that helped to save his life. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREENVILLE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — A group of Fox Valley Technical College students exemplified why it’s important to pay attention in class when they were called into action to use the skills they’d learned in a life-or-death situation.
On March 25, a few students in the EMT-Basic course at FVTC were working in the back of an ambulance, practicing the CPR skills they had been taught just weeks earlier. The students were running through a cardiac arrest scenario with one of their instructors, Karl Arps.
“At the time, I was putting the cuff around him to get a blood pressure, and I saw his hand kind of turn in the middle of that, right as I did it, and then I heard snoring — like his breathing was snoring, respirations. And his head was turning to the opposite end, and I’m sort of thinking to myself, ‘Dang, what symptom is he throwing at me now?'” said student Logan Lehrer.
That’s when another instructor jumped in to observe.
“As I was getting in the back of the ambulance, at that point, I still wasn’t sure if it was an act or not. And then he did that agonal breath. You just know it when you see it,” said Traci Blondeau.
Arps wasn’t acting. He was having a heart attack.
According to student Ben Marsh, “You can tell when someone’s just screaming to get someone’s attention and when it’s important. And I heard Tracy’s tone of voice and I was like, ‘Okay, what’s going on?’ I went through the door and then she’s yelling, ‘It’s Karl.'”
With the skills they had learned in class, students immediately began to help.
“We got the backboard underneath him, and then we unbuckled him too, because we had him buckled. Got the backboard under him and then pulled him out and then got him on the ground,” said student Sofie DeValk.
Once Arps was on the ground, the students started CPR. A defibrillator administered two shocks to his heart, and in less than five minutes, Arps was conscious and breathing.
According to Arps, “Once I got into Gold Cross Ambulance and they hooked me up to everything but the kitchen sink, I sat there and realized what had happened.”
Arps was back on campus Wednesday, a month after triple bypass surgery, thanking the students and coworkers who saved his life.
He told them, “Whatever you guys want to do, I know you can do it, after you just proved it, saving me. So, thank you again, all of the students.”
As someone who cannot sit still, Arps plans to return to FVTC to keep teaching. He also works security for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, and he’s hoping to be back working EMS shifts on a ambulance within 3-4 months.
Comments