Bonsall woman's life saved by CPR Public classes offered Saturday

While local resident Erica Myers, 53, was in the midst of an interesting seminar on February 3, she had no idea her life would hang in the balance a few minutes later and that a team effort between amateurs and professionals would save her life.

Myers was attending a workshop on a spiritual approach to parenting at The Stream in Bonsall. When she attempted to make a comment during the seminar, she collapsed and stopped breathing.

“I went in to full cardiac arrest,” Myers said. With no history of heart problems, Myers’ life hung in the balance while her fellow seminar attendees called 9-1-1.

It was 4:04 p.m. when Annette Hughes made the call and was connected with Olivia Hoyt, a fire medical dispatcher with North County Dispatch JPA in Rancho Santa Fe. Hoyt just happens to be a resident of Fallbrook.

Hoyt took control of the situation and asked Hughes critical questions to determine Myers’ status. Hughes followed the instructions and handed the phone over to Carey Reese. Hoyt then gave instructions to Reese, who relayed them to Hughes, who was assisting Myers.

“I went into instructions for CPR [Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation],” Hoyt said. “I instructed them how to do chest compressions and kept them on the phone until the paramedics arrived, which was eight or nine minutes.”

While Annette Hughes performed chest compressions on Myers and Helen Hillix DeSanto administered mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the victim, David Hughes waited outside for the ambulance so paramedics could be directed to the scene as quickly as possible.

During the lifesaving effort, Todd Benton stepped up and took over chest compressions from Annette Hughes to give her a respite. Beth Green helped with other tasks.

“It was an intense situation and these individuals did a wonderful job; they kept her going until the paramedics got there,” Hoyt said.

Myers says it doesn’t surprise her that the people she was with were calm and capable.

“I know I was with a group of calm people, because they were already working on something together,” Myers said.

When paramedics from North County Fire Protection District arrived on the scene, they were relieved to see CPR was in progress and that the group was functioning calmly, efficiently and persistently.

The paramedics were a team of five seasoned professionals dispatched from the Pala Mesa station: Garry Bledsoe, Nick Crilly, Jim Doumak, Richard Needham and Anthony VanSlyke. They hit the ground running.

“[Myers] had started to turn blue and her pupils were dilated. She was unresponsive <and> had no heartbeat for between eight and 10 minutes,” Hoyt said. “The paramedics put an oxygen mask on her, intubated her and prepared her to receive treatment from an AED [device].”

Time was precious, Hoyt said, and the paramedics acted quickly.

“They shocked her once, with no response, gave her a shot and shocked her again,” she explained. “They reestablished her heartbeat at 4:22 p.m. The revival tactics had started to work.”

Myers was quickly transported to Fallbrook Hospital, where she stayed five nights before being transferred to Palomar Hospital for an additional four-night stay.

“At Palomar, they implanted an AICD <Automatic Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator> in me,” Myers explained, noting that she now has “her own built-in defibrillator.”

An AICD is a device that monitors a person’s heart rate and is generally implanted into patients who have experienced heart failure. It is programmed to speed up or slow down the heart, depending on the current heart rate.

An AICD administers a shock to the heart if the patient starts having life-threatening arrhythmias or an abnormally high heart rate.

What Myers experienced, she said, was a miracle. “I believe God had his hand in it.”

This lucky Bonsall woman has a deep feeling of gratitude to both groups of people who worked in concert to save her life. As a result, she plans to “do her part” to help someone else by encouraging others to learn CPR skills.

“I have received the benefit [of CPR] firsthand; now it’s time for me to give back,” Myers said. “I want to support the notion that if people work together and put issues aside, they can cooperate in oneness. I like to think of it as preparing for a miracle. God performs miracles all the time, but we have to be prepared for them.”

Myers and Hoyt have both voiced their support of the two free CPR classes that will be offered to the public this Saturday, June 14, at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. at the stadium at Fallbrook High School.

The classes are a joint effort between North County Fire Protection District, Fallbrook Hospital and North County Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). They are being held in tandem with the Relay for Life event that benefits the American Cancer Society.

“I think learning CPR is very, very important,” Hoyt said. “You never know when you are going to need to use it. If you choose to learn CPR and apply your skills when needed, remember that you are giving a gift – trying to sustain a life.”

“I hope people will say, ‘I need to do that,’” said Hoyt, who assists people over the phone in situations like Myers’ all the time. “At times you <a medical dispatcher> feel a sense of helplessness because you aren’t there in person.”

After following Myers’ case and hearing the positive outcome, Hoyt was provided with a unique opportunity.

“I found out a couple of weeks later that [Myers] had survived,” Hoyt said. “Then [Myers] called our dispatch headquarters to thank whoever it was that had helped on her call.”

Facilitated by the paramedics of North County Fire, Hoyt was able to meet Myers in person and personally accept her thanks.

“This normally doesn’t happen because we are behind the scenes,” Hoyt said. “I was nervous, but being able to talk to her and hug her was great.”

As it turns out, because she survived the incident and has been able to resume an active lifestyle, Myers was able to be present for the birth of her first grandchild, Alexander Eric Martinez, on April 1.

Myers, a private swim instructor who also teaches swimming to children and adults with disabilities, has a 26-year-old son and a 23-year-old daughter.

“To hear that she was able to see her first grandchild born – if I don’t do anything else right this year, I know I made a difference in one person’s life <and that of> her family members. That is something that is very valuable to me,” Hoyt said.

To learn more about swim instruction with Erica Myers, e-mail [email protected]. For information on The Stream and spiritual parenting seminars, visit http://www.thestream.org.

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