From left: Raphael Benitez. Anthony Barton Anthony, Chet Zaremski and John Grimmie worked together to save the life of a person in cardiac arrest.
John Grimmie and Chet Zaremski had just finished teaching the Advanced Cardiac Life Support class at the Penn Medicine Simulation Center at Penn Medicine Rittenhouse when they were alerted by PMR security guards Raphael Benitez and Anthony Barton about an elderly man outside who was gasping for breath. Two bystanders were by his side trying to help. The guards had already called 911 when Grimmie and Zaremski – who have more than 30 years combined experience as EMS paramedics – rushed out to help.
“He was sitting on the stone wall, but was being held up,” said Zaremski, who is the Life Support Program administrator in the Sim Center. After not feeling a pulse – and getting no response to questions – they laid the man down on the ground for further assessment. But, within seconds, “we determined he was not breathing and in cardiac arrest,” said Grimmie, who is a technician in Hyperbaric Medicine and an AHA (American Heart Association) CPR instructor at the Sim Center. He started CPR and Zaremski notified security to get an AED.
AEDs will only deliver shocks if the person’s heart is in one of two rhythms. “His was not shockable so we continued CPR,” Zaremski said. By the time fire rescue arrived, the man had taken a deep breath and opened his eyes. While he was still not out of danger – his pulse was only 30, far below the normal 80 to 100 beats per minute – he was alive. Fire rescue took the man to a nearby hospital for further medical care.
Neither Grimmie nor Zaremski consider themselves heroes. “We were at the right place at the right time,” Zaremski said, adding that “the security guards were phenomenal.”
And, Grimmie added, “This experience shows the importance of everyone getting CPR training.”