Responders save Warren woman’s life

A Warren woman is recovering in the hospital after her heart stopped while driving near Dequindre Road in Hazel Park.

Hazel Park police got a 911 call shortly before noon Friday. A worker at Loui’s Pizza, 23141 Dequindre near Nine Mile Road, saw the woman’s car lightly bump into a parked vehicle in a nearby parking lot, officials said.

“This is someone who had a cardiac emergency with no pulse,” said City Manager Ed Klobucher. “Her heart stopped and our personnel were able to restore her pulse and get her to the hospital. Hazel Park firefighters and police are heroes every day.”

Authorities are not releasing the name of the woman because of medical privacy laws.

Police Chief Brian Buchholz said the 911 call came into his department as a report on a woman unresponsive in the driver’s seat of her car and possibly having a seizure.

“It was an unknown medical emergency,” Buchholz said. “It was unclear whether the woman had just arrived at the parking for something or had pulled off of Dequindre.”

Police officers immediately started performing CPR on the woman, 57.

Another officer grabbed an automated external defibrillator (AED) and administered a shock to the stricken woman.

“After fire personnel arrived and after the shock, she started breathing and regained a pulse,” Buchholz said.

Fire Chief Richard Story said the portable defibrillator only works on people with active heart problems. It’s not that common to be able to directly help save a person’s life in public safety work, such as with a defibrillator, he added.

“You see a lot of bad things in our work,” Story said, “so, it’s nice when you can do something good and receive a positive outcome like this.”

Police are usually the first called to emergency scenes.

“We do try to assist (firefighters) on medical runs,” Buchholz said. “Still, the opportunity to use the AEDs doesn’t happen very often, so it’s great we have them with us in a case like this. Even if we only save someone once every few years with an AED it’s well worth it.”

All the city buildings have AEDs and all first responder vehicles are equipped with them.

The last time someone in Hazel Park was saved by an AED was a few years ago at the city’s ice arena.

The portable defibrillators helped make a difference in Friday’s incident with the Warren woman.

Without the police administering a timely shock with the device, fire department EMTs “would have had a much larger job,” Fire Chief Story said. “There would have been a much lower chance of recovery for the patient and possible brain injury.”

One advantage of having a small town the size of Hazel Park is that police are able to respond to an emergency call in two minutes or less, city officials said.

Police Chief Buchholz spoke with the Warren woman’s daughter on Monday.

“She is still in the hospital but is doing much better,” he said.