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CPR + AED = LIFE

For 20 years, Scott Torbeck has rushed to aid others as a firefighter and emergency medical technician with the Patoka Fire Department.

But on a January afternoon, it was he who was on the receiving end of such assistance.
Two months later, as he was thanking those who helped save his live, Torbeck was sending a message to firefighters and a second message to the general public.
Torbeck was among the Patoka firefighters who responded to a Jan. 5 call for a field fire, which actually turned out to be more than that.
He and a fellow PFD member, John Spicer, were using a brush truck to extinguish the burning field, and Torbeck and PFD firefighter Matt Thompson were walking around the perimeter of the burned out area to make sure the fire was completely out. They were about 30 yards from the still-burning fire.
“Matt told me that he didn’t think we got it all out, so I said, ‘Let’s go walk back there and check it out.’
“I told him that I didn’t feel well and that I needed to kneel down,” Torbeck said.
The next thing that Torbeck remembers is waking up in St. Mary’s Hospital in Mt. Vernon.
He had passed out, a result of irregular contractions of his heart.
“Matt hollered for help and got everything started,” Torbeck said, telling the story as it was told to him.
Those who responded to the call for help were firefighters from the Odin and Sandoval fire departments, which had been called to the fire scene due to the need for water and additional manpower.
Rushing to aid Torbeck were John Hinkel of the Patoka department, Doug Davis of Odin, and Gary Speagle and Shawn Lance of Sandoval.
While the four men began performing CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) on Torbeck, Sandoval firefighter Scott Towler rushed to get the AED (automated external defibrillator) that the department keeps on one of its trucks.
A combination of the CPR and four shocks from the AED restored a regular heartbeat, and Torbeck was transported to the hospital.
Torbeck is alive today because the Patoka firefighters were following one of the basic tenets taught to all firefighters – always work in teams of two.
“Had he (Thompson) not been with me, I’d been out there for a long time. They wouldn’t have found me (in time),” Torbeck said.
Hinkel, who has a long career in emergency medical care and works as the operations manager for Life Star Ambulance, estimates that he has handled 400 cardiac arrest cases.
And it was just a fluke that he was present to help save a fellow firefighter.
“I wasn’t even supposed to be there that day,” Hinkel said. “But something told me that I needed to be there.”
He said that out of all the cardiac arrest cases he has responded to, this was the toughest, due to the fact that the patient was good friend and fellow firefighter.
“I was shook up. It was the hardest one I’ve ever done,” Hinkel said.
Since the incident, according to PFD Chief Blake Hyde, the department has put an AED on its first-responding pumper, and plans to add one or two more to its fleet.
“When EMT’s are available, we plan to have (our) ambulance respond to all fire calls," Hyde said.
Hyde believes, like Torbeck, that there would be no recognition ceremony had Torbeck been by himself.
“Looking back at everything that happened that day, it’s a lesson on why we should always be working in pairs,” Hyde said.
“If Scott had been by himself or out of sight of the others, I feel the outcome would not have been as positive. The key to Scott’s recovery is early attention by medical personal,” he said.
Prior to recognizing the men who saved his life, Torbeck was telling one of the attendees at the PFD’s annual dinner, “I was in the best place.
“God had a plan. I was with guys who knew what they were doing,” Torbeck said.
A captain on the Patoka department, Torbeck said he feels fine today, and that he now wears a defibrillator that will help prevent the occurrence of another incident.
Prior to presenting certificates to the Patoka, Odin and Sandoval fire departments, and Life Star Ambulance, and pins to the four men who saved him at the scene with pins from the American Heart Association, Torbeck recalled an old joke as a way of delivering an important message.
“They used to say, ‘Patoka saved the foundation.’ I’m here to tell you, you saved more than a foundation – you saved a life,” he said.
Asked if he has gained a new appreciation of CPR, Torbeck said that when he tells others that he will be teaching CPR, “People always ask, ‘How much does it cost?’
“It’s priceless,” he said, sending a message about why people should learn how to perform CPR.
“I am walking and talking proof that early defibrillation and CPR saves lives,” Torbeck said.

Patoka firefighter and EMT Scott Torbeck, second from right, presents pins to fellow firefighters who saved his life on the afternoon of Jan. 5. From left to right are Shawn Lance of Sandoval, Gary Speagle of Sandoval and Doug Davis of Odin.

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