Every second counts when saving a life
Jan. 8, 2018, started out much the same as any other day for Lyn Amstutz Lavery. She went into work a little early, punched in, received her assignment and then everything changed for the 45-year-old Wooster resident.
When Lavery reported for work, she started to feel pain in her chest. She dismissed it as just anxiety due to receiving a new position at work. Then the pain traveled down her left arm. Again, she dismissed it as an old tendon tear flaring up.
Next, Lavery started sweating. This time she did a search online for symptoms of a heart attack. She went into her supervisor’s office to explain “something was going on.” She became hot. The supervisor called the nurse, who gave her three aspirin. A squad picked her up to transport her to the WCH emergency room.
Thanks to the company nurse, the Wooster emergency medical squad and a dedicated medical team awaiting Lavery’s arrival at Wooster Community Hospital Health System, she is alive and well and able to share her story.
The EMS team are trained to connect patients with chest pain to a 12-lead electrocardiogram. This gives medical staff a good look at a person’s heart and its function. The squad just needs to press a button, and all the data is sent to Wooster Community Hospital, where a team can begin to prepare for a patient’s arrival like they did with Lavery.
“They told me, ‘We are going lights and sirens. Don’t be scared. When we get to the hospital, there will be a lot of people waiting for you,’” Lavery said.
“That was a nightmare,” said Joe Lavery, Lyn’s husband. As the medical team transported Lyn Lavery from the ER to the cath lab, they wheeled her past her husband. Both of them shared a similar experience in that passing moment.
“I remember looking up and seeing my husband. The look on his face,” Lyn Lavery said.
“She flatlined, and I watched them shock her and bring her back,” Joe Lavery said. “She had a look on her face that I had never seen before. It’s something I didn’t want to see or happen to my wife. If you never witnessed someone dying, it’s hard to explain.”
When cardiologist Dr. Cyril Ofori told Lyn Lavery she was having a heart attack, she started crying. After arriving at the cath lab, she coded again and again.
“My heart stopped several times,” Lyn Lavery said. “I owe my life to them.”
“We do a lot of training with the hospital,” said Nathan Murphy, Wooster assistant fire chief. “With all the equipment we have now we can get people to definitive treatment a lot quicker. And the WCH Interventional Cardiology Cath Lab has made a big difference. People don’t have to be flown to Akron or Cleveland. The quicker we can get someone into the cath lab, the better the chance of survival and having a better quality of life.”
Lyn Lavery can attest to that. Eleven days after suffering a heart attack, she was driving herself around town with no restrictions. Two weeks after the event, she went back to work.
“I know a lot of EMTs, and they say when someone codes two or three times, they don’t come back,” Lyn Lavery said. “They know what they are doing. They made all the right decisions.”
“I am thankful for all they did for her,” Joe Lavery said.
“There’s a lot I don’t remember. There are hours I can’t account for,” Lyn Lavery said. But she is grateful the medical team at Wooster Community Hospital can account for those hours, for that is when they saved her life.