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Life savers: staff use AED to save unresponsive man at Nanaimo arena

Mar 3, 2017 | 11:50 AM

NANAIMO — How do you thank people for saving your life?

It’s a rhetorical question Nanaimo’s Jim Corder is trying to find an answer to, after the 83-year-old went into cardiac arrest during a senior leisure skate at Frank Crane Arena.

Corder told NanaimoNewsNOW the only memory he has of Jan. 31 is waking up in hospital. The memory is much more vivid for the four people who flew into action when Corder fell to the ice.

“Based on everything that I’ve heard, they were my life savers, there’s no two ways about it,” Corder said. “Like another lease on life. Extremely lucky to be in the right place at the right time…had it happened anywhere else, I don’t think I’d be talking to you today.”

Stacey Paterson, program leader for arenas with the City of Nanaimo, said she expected to see a head injury when she approached Corder lying on the ice. Paterson and Ed Heyes, a participant in the skating session, quickly realized Corder was unresponsive, had no pulse and wasn’t breathing.

“Him (Ed) and I were just looking at each other and we just knew this was really bad,” she said.

Paterson raced across the ice to the arena’s automated external defibrillator (AED), where she was met by her husband, Gary, who is the City’s recreation coordinator for arenas.

She said she pulled up Corder’s shirt as her husband prepared the AED.

“You’re constantly playing that back-and-forth in your mind…on the one hand you’re hoping that it’s not true, that he’s suddenly going to open his eyes,” Gary said. “Then you realize, no, it’s not happening, we have to do something now.”

The AED machine walked them through the next steps as they shocked Corder. Paterson said at that point two lifeguards from the next door pool showed up. Brittany Johnson took over CPR, learning later her efforts were pivotal to the rescue effort.

“Gary shocked him again,” Paterson said. “And we had a pulse. We had breathing. I remember just saying ‘oh my god, is he breathing, did this work?’”

Heyes, who is a former trainer for the Nanaimo Clippers, said all of his training came to the forefront, keeping him and everyone else calm.

“We gelled as a team right away. We were encouraging each other, talking, there’s no panic,” Heyes said.

Corder, who has three sons, nine grandchildren and a few great grandchildren, is now making a strong recovery. He was able to visit Paterson after he was released from hospital. “Quite emotional knowing what she had done, her and the others.”

“I gave him a big hug and held on tight,” Paterson said. “Very emotional, every time I tell the story or relate it that lump in my throat is there.”

Gary described the experience as “life-altering,” adding the actual event was completely different from his years of training. Despite what some would consider a heroic effort, he thought long and hard when asked if he had a feeling he was part of saving a man’s life.

“No, not really…it is pretty amazing, but it wasn’t a choice. You’re there on the spot, you just do what you’re trained to do. It’s not a ‘wow’ moment really, it’s what we were expected to do,” he said.

Corder said he will take the rest of the season off, but plans to strap his skates back on next winter.

“A genius invented that machine (AED), I didn’t realize they work the way they do,” Corder said.

 

Keep an eye on NanaimoNewsNOW next week for a follow-up piece on the city’s AED program and its impact since 2009.

 

dominic.abassi@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @domabassi