Citizens Keep Cool To Help Save Lives

When a co-worker suffered a massive heart attack at his desk, Derrelyn Hewlett, Patty Earls and Rick and Bernie Schamber did not panic.

Neither did Chris Stevens when he was faced with a similar situation following a car accident.

Spokane Valley Fire District No. 1 honored all five Wednesday afternoon, crediting each with saving a life.

“We really appreciate your actions,” said Valley Fire Chief Pat Humphries, who presented each with a plaque.

Just after lunch on March 8, Rich Meyers, 49, slumped over onto his desk at Kelly-Clarke, Inc., a Valley food brokerage. His co-workers wondered if Meyers’ recent trip from his home in Salt Lake City had gotten the best of him.

“I just thought he was asleep - until he didn’t wake up,” Earls said.

Earls, Hewlett and the Schambers tried to revive him and felt for a pulse. There was none.

“He was basically gone,” Rick Schamber said.

The four laid Meyers on the floor. Earls and Rick Schamber began cardiopulmonary resuscitation, while Bernie Schamber, Rick’s wife, called 911.

“I knew there was something wrong and we had to do something, but you don’t want to start CPR until you’re sure,” said Earls, who learned CPR in the military.

Hewlett helped Earls while Rick Schamber ran to call Meyers’ wife.

Earls and Hewlett, who was trained in CPR when she worked as a flight attendant, continued CPR until paramedics arrived. The two watched nervously as paramedics continued CPR and shocked Meyers’ heart.

Much to his co-worker’s relief, Meyers was revived seconds later.

“When he threw up on the floor, we were thinking ‘All right, he’s going to be OK,”’ said Earls.

“It took maybe two to three minutes, but it seemed like a lifetime,” Earls added.

Valley Fire paramedic Lt. Wayne McLaughlin, who nominated the four, praised their quick actions. Without his co-workers, Meyers, who returned to work last week, would have died, McLaughlin said.

“They knew exactly what they were doing, and I’m very grateful to them,” Meyers said during a phone interview from Salt Lake City.

Hewlett shrugged.

“It was just, ‘Dammit, he’s not going to die,”’ she said.

On February 4, Stevens also refused to give up.

He had just gone to bed when he heard a crash. Seconds later, someone yelled for help outside of his apartment at 29th Avenue and Guthrie Drive.

The Fairchild Air Force Base firefighter quickly dressed and ran outside to see if he could help.

He found two women trapped inside a truck.

The driver was the one yelling. In her haste to rush her friend Cindy Bargas, 29, to the hospital, she had slammed the truck into a snow bank, she explained frantically.

“I introduced myself and told her everything’s going to be OK,” said Stevens, who has been a firefighter for four years.

He examined Bargas, who was unconscious, and found a pulse, but no signs of breath.

Stevens remembered thinking to himself, “We need to get this lady breathing or she’s going to die on us.”

He started rescue breathing and tried to calm the growing group of on-lookers.

Valley Fire paramedic Steve Hatcher, who nominated Stevens for the award, said without Stevens’ actions, Bargas would have died.

Stevens brushed aside the praise.

“Everyone should know CPR,” Stevens said. “Something like that can save a person’s life.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MEMO: Saturday’s People is a regular Valley Voice feature profiling remarkable individuals in the Valley. If you know someone who would be a good profile subject, please call editor Mike Schmeltzer at 927-2170.