My elderly next-door neighbor, “H”, finally put a timer on his living room lamp so if he was not home the house would not be dark.  Unfortunately, he plugged it into an electrical outlet that was switched by a wall switch, and he often inadvertently turned that switch off and would call me to reset the timer because he could not figure out how to do it.   He called me and asked me to come over one day while I was giving my son lunch, so I told him I could come back after lunch.  When I went over to his house he did not answer the doorbell.  Looking in, I saw him lying on the kitchen floor.  Not knowing if or how I could get into the house since the front door was locked, I ran home, called 911, told them the situation, and ran back to his house.  I did find a window that could be opened, went to his kitchen, opened the front door for the EMTs, and my CPR training kicked in:  A-B-C.  Airway. Breathing.  Cardiac. He was not breathing and I could not find a pulse, so I started CPR.  A police officer came in – I asked him if he knew CPR since 2-person CPR is better and easier.  He said he did know CPR, but he said “It looks like you are doing fine,” so he just stood by and watched.  After a few minutes “H” started choking, breathing and came around.   Whew!  Was I ever glad to be CPR certified!  So was H glad!  After he returned from the ER  and a brief hospital stay (everything checked out okay, they said) we talked, and as a “reward” he said I should take his snowblower, since I always cleared his paths and sidewalk with it anyway, so I would have it when he died.  He also asked, if he gave it to me, the character that he is if I would rake his leaves.   I said, “Only if the snow blower can rake leaves!”

     Today all the police in our area have AEDs on their vehicles.  I always encourage people to learn CPR, and with a grant I applied for and received,  we teach all students in our school district over various grades and years about Long QT, heart arrhythmias, and they all learn CPR.