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 During a recent ceremony at the American Red Cross headquarters in Creve Coeur, the staff from the Wellbridge Athletic Club and Spa in Town and Country received Red Cross Lifesaver Awards for saving the life of a club member.
On April 25, 2003, Mike Welsh collapsed after exercising at the Wellbridge Athletic Club and Spa. Fellow club member Gene Ball rushed to Welsh’s side and quickly discovered he was not breathing.
Ball called for help and opened Welsh’s airway by tipping his head back; he then gave him two breaths, but to no avail.
Meanwhile, Wellbridge staff members Susan DeWitt, Julie Ryan and Thomas Deere rushed to Welsh’s aid and went through the lifesaving procedures they had practiced in previous months. They performed four cycles of CPR before delivering a shock from an automatic external defibrillator (AED).
Just as paramedics with the Metro West EMS and Fire Protection District arrived, the Wellbridge staff members detected a pulse.
The paramedics rushed Welsh to St. John’s Mercy Medical Center, where he required another electric shock and the insertion of a personal defibrillator/pacemaker.
Doctors told Welsh that 90 percent of people who have this type of cardiac arrest don’t make it, 5 percent lose their mental state and 5 percent survive because proper care was administered immediately.
Wellbridge staff members are required to be certified in Red Cross first aid/CPR and AED training. Nearly two years ago, Wellbridge put AEDs in its clubs.
Others who received Lifesaver Awards at the Red Cross ceremony included:
• John Reith, who saved the life of his nephew at a wedding rehearsal dinner.
• Kevin Pickett, Andrew Doerhoff, David Thurston, Gary Mueller and Dale Montgomery, a team of emergency medical technicians and security staff at the Ameristar Casino in St. Charles, who saved the lives of two guests at the casino.
• The Massey family, a Metro-East family who save their loved one’s lives every time they donate blood and plasma.
• Josh and Ben Wagner, two teenage brothers from Wildwood who saved the life of their choking father by using CPR and first aid skills they learned through the Boy Scouts.
The Lifesaver Program is designed to inspire others to get trained in first aid and CPR.
Last year, more than 60,000 people were trained locally in CPR and first aid. Since 1984, the Red Cross Lifesaver Program has honored more than 150 St. Louis area residents who have saved a life.
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