SURVIVORS SAY THANKS
Heart-starting first responders saved lives
Richard Tyczkowski can’t remember anything from April 20, 2017, but the people who saved his life certainly do.
That day, Tyczkowski had his sixth heart attack. He was kept alive by his wife, two neighbours, firefighters and paramedics before getting to the hospital.
At the seventh annual Essex Windsor Emergency Medical Services Survivor Day, Tyczkowski got a chance to meet the people who saved his life last year.
“I have no memory of it whatsoever, not even my first month in the hospital,” said Tyczkowski. “From what people have told me the EMS did for me, and how good the hospital staff was, I couldn’t be happier or more appreciative of the results.”
When asked about meeting the EMS crews who saved him, Tyczkowski said, “It feels fantastic,” before getting choked up. Capt. Anthony Revenberg, of Windsor Fire and Rescue Services, was one of the first responders who kept Tyczkowski alive that day. He said that when his crew arrived at Tyczkowski’s house, two neighbours had already begun CPR.
“Early CPR in anyone gives them a better chance at survival,” said Revenberg. He and his crew members assessed Tyczkowski, took over CPR, and began giving him oxygen. They put a defibrillator on his chest and found what EMS calls a shockable rhythm. They administered two shocks to his chest before paramedics arrived. Paramedics shocked Tyczkowski two additional times before his heart began beating again and he started breathing on his own. He was then transported to the hospital.
During the presentation Friday, EMS individuals referred to Tyczkowski as the “miracle man.” “I’m a very lucky man,” said Tyczkowski. “Even my family doctor told me that, according to the readings she received, she was amazed that I survived.” Tyczkowski’s fifth heart attack was in 2000, 17 years before his most recent one.
“This was the worst one,” said Tyczkowski.
Friday’s presentation at the St. Clair Centre for the Arts recognized the firefighters, paramedics, health care workers, dispatchers, and bystanders involved in saving the lives of individuals suffering cardiac arrest. According to presenters, 104 paramedics, 87 firefighters, 20 dispatchers, 32 bystanders and the use of two public access defibrillators saved 46 lives locally in 2017. Essex-Windsor EMS Chief Bruce Krauter said that the number of survivors is remarkable. “This is the team, from bystanders to communicators, to nurses and physicians and paramedics, that respond to cardiac arrest each and every day,” said Krauter. “It’s not just one individual, it’s a community as a whole. “Together we put this on every year to bring survivors, first responders and paramedics together.”
Jennifer Svenson gave a paramedic who saved her life a long hug in front of more than 200 EMS workers and survivors at the ceremony.
The mother of two was woodworking when she sustained an electrical shock in February 2017. Her husband heard her collapse, and ran into the room to find her unresponsive on the floor. He immediately called 911.
When paramedics arrived, Svenson had no pulse. Paramedics were able to revive her with two shocks from a defibrillator.
Nicole Awram was one of the responding paramedics.
“It was an intense call,” said Awram. “Being an electrocution, those are more of our high-trauma kind of calls, and it was incredible to get her back and see her five days later doing well.
“It was pure chaos, but that’s what we’re trained to work in.” Svenson was the first person whose life Awram saved in her seven years on the job.
“I am so thankful that it wasn’t the person after me,” said Svenson. She had nothing but thanks and praise for the EMS workers. Doctors gave her a one per cent chance of survival. She said she is happy to be alive.
The local EMS Survivor Day took place during Paramedic Services Week, which recognizes the work of paramedics across Canada.