Lifesavers

Chris Karklins and Molly Cuthbert at Dalplex, AED machine by their side (Nick Pearce photo)

For a few days after Chris Karklins helped save a man’s life, people started calling him a hero.

But he doesn’t feel cut out for the cape and tights. “I was getting ‘hero’ for about a week,” says Mr. Karklins, a Dalplex lifeguard, with a shrug. “But it’s kind of ridiculous. I really have to credit my training and experience in past situations in knowing what to do.”

It all happened a few weeks ago. A runner had just done a few laps of the track and paused near the water fountain to do some stretches when he went over, hard, the apparent victim of a heart attack.

Molly Cuthbert was working the front desk when a student came running down looking desperately for help. She immediately called the Dalhousie Security hotline (494-4109), while someone else called down to the pool deck to ask a lifeguard to investigate. In turn, Dalhousie Security called 911 and directed emergency vehicles to the correct location.

“It was a bit unnerving, I confess,” says Ms. Cuthbert, 19. “I was just talking and joking with him probably 10 minutes beforehand. I had sold him a membership.”

Mr. Karklins, a fourth-year student at Saint Mary’s, sprang into action as soon as he got the call. He grabbed his gear, including an automated external defibrillator (AED), and bolted upstairs to the track.

There, he discovered an off-duty nurse performing CPR on the man. Taking over, he quickly realized he needed to use the defibrillator. He shocked the heart-attack victim and the man started breathing again and moving slightly. Mr. Karklins resumed CPR, performing four cycles, until the paramedics arrived and took over.

“Your adrenalin gets going but it’s not a scary ordeal,” says the 22-year-old, who has worked as a lifeguard at Queensland Beach and the Waegwoltic Club in Halifax. He also does training for other lifeguards. “It’s gotten easier.”

Steven Ellis, with Dalhousie’s Environmental Health and Safety Office, said the two students did everything right: they stayed cool, acted quickly and followed protocol.

“We’re quite happy that the AED was used correctly and that things turned out so well,” he said.

There are 18 AEDs in various buildings on Dalhousie’s campuses and in security’s patrol cars. They are about the size of a shoe box, in a black-and-yellow plastic case. Mr. Ellis believes this is the first time one has been used in an emergency situation.

“You just never know when you might need to use one,” says Mr. Ellis. “Our campus is like small city, so it’s important to have this equipment available.”

He reminds Dalhousie staffers that his office provides first-aid training, including a CPR/AED course. The course is free and can be arranged for individual offices or departments for five to 10 participants; to arrange, simply give him a phone call at 494-6308 or e-mail stephen.ellis@dal.ca.

He also suggests finding out where the closest AED is situated to your workplace; maps of Carleton, Sexton and Studley campuses showing AED locations can be viewed at: http://environmentalhealthandsafetyoffice.dal.ca/radiatio_7644.html