“They didn’t think I was going to make it at first, and they said it was only because of Gary Booz and his quick actions that I’m alive right now and am doing as well as I am.” That was Lynette Wimer, a 30-year veteran of the U.S. Postal Service, addressing a crowd of more than 50 co-workers during a ceremony honoring one of their own for delivering life-saving CPR when Ms. Wilmer suffered a sudden cardiac arrest just months ago.
On July 25, with traffic and crowds attending the Democratic National Convention causing havoc in the city, mail carrier Gary Booz got to work two hours early so he could make sure his deliveries were made on time. Just as he was about to start his deliveries, Wilmer passed out. Though Booz and their co-workers didn’t know it at the time, Wilmer was suffering a massive heart attack.
“I wasn’t even supposed to be in the building at that time, but with the DNC in town, I wanted to make sure I got an early start on my deliveries. There’s no doubt in my mind that God used me that day,” Booz said. “After Lynette collapsed, my co-workers called 911 and I went to go meet the ambulance, but something told me not to. Something told me to stay. Then, the person on the phone who my co-workers were talking to said, ‘find somebody who knows CPR. She needs it now.’ And I was the only person in the office who knew it,” said Booz, who’s worked alongside Wilmer for more than 30 years.
During the ceremony earlier this month, the U.S. Post Office in University City and faculty and staff from Penn’s Center for Resuscitation Science recognized Booz’s heroic efforts and discussed the importance of CPR training for all.
“I know sometimes we’re afraid to jump in and help someone – we’re afraid we might get sued if something bad happens, or that we might injure the person even more – but there are Good Samaritan laws in place in all 50 states that protect people who are trying to help others, and there’s nothing you can do to someone who is having a cardiac arrest that is going to harm them more than if you do nothing,” said Benjamin S. Abella, MD, MPhil, director of the Penn Center for Resuscitation Science and an associate professor of Emergency Medicine.
CPR can be done by anyone and doubles a victim’s chances of survival, yet cardiac arrest kills more than 1,000 Philadelphia residents every year and the number of people who receive bystander CPR in Philadelphia is half the national average. Earlier this year, the Penn Center for Resuscitation Science launched a program that is working to change those statistics by giving more members of the public the skills needed to jump in and save a life like Mr. Booz.
The Philadelphia Mobile CPR Project is a public health initiative that aims to educate as many Philadelphia residents as possible in hands-only CPR. The program is free of charge and uses an innovative video learning approach that takes less than 30 minutes per training. Funded by the Independence Blue Cross Foundation, project organizers host training sessions at community centers, shelters, schools, religious organizations, and community health fairs across the city. Certified health care providers travel to training sessions in the Mobile CPR van, bringing all of the necessary presentation materials. The overall goal of the initiative is to bring vital, life-saving training to those who might not seek such training on their own.
“You only have to save one life for it to be worth it,” Abella said. “Ms. Wilmer is here with us today, because Gary Booz went through proper CPR training and he wasn’t afraid to jump in and help.”
After the ceremony, and to make sure Booz’s co-workers would be able to jump in if he isn’t around next time, Abella and staff from the Mobile CPR Project led the team from the Middle City Post Office through a CPR training session.
"I was in a coma for six days; hospitalized for 18. They told me before I hit the floor, I was dead," Wilmer said during the ceremony. "Without Gary Booz I would never have made it. I would never have made it. I don’t know how to express how thankful I am. I know without you being on the work floor that day, I wouldn’t be here."