Saturday, May 30, 2009

Police CPR skills save heart attack victim

Clara Garcia News-Bulletin Staff Writer; cgarcia@news-bulletin.com

Belen What started out as an ordinary trip to the Motor Vehicle Division office in Belen last week ended up as a life or death situation for a Rio Communities man — and a job well done for Belen police and rescue personnel.

Lorenzo Castillo had met with his son, Daniel, at the MVD office in Belen on Friday, May 22, and they were on their way back home to Rio Communities. Daniel, who was driving east on Reinken Avenue ahead of his father, looked in his rear view mirror to see that the truck his 66-year-old father was driving was crossing the median near Wisconsin Avenue.

"All I saw was him cross all the lanes of traffic and hit the median and saw that he didn't stop until he hit the parked vehicle there on Wisconsin," Daniel Castillo said. "I turned around immediately and, when I got to him, he was slumped over in the driver's seat. He was really purple and not breathing."

Panicked, all the younger Castillo could think of was that he needed to get his father out of the truck. He said there was a couple in the area who made the initial call to 911 and helped the elderly man out of the vehicle. After placing someone's T-shirt under Lorenzo's head, Daniel tried to clear his father's air passage, hoping he would breath.

"In a matter of minutes, the officers were there — thank God," Daniel said.

Belen Police Lt. Robert Miller was in his office when he heard the dispatch about a traffic crash with injuries at the intersection. Immediately, Miller and Sgt. Gerald Espinoza rushed to the scene. On their way, they were advised that the male driver was unconscious.

"When I got there, I saw a red truck that had struck another truck and Mr. Castillo on the ground," Miller said. "I could tell he wasn't breathing — he was lifeless. He had a pretty good bump on his head from what I thought was from the steering wheel. But the bump trauma was sort of secondary to me at that point because all I saw was that he wasn't breathing."

Miller said that, when he and Espinoza assessed the man, they couldn't find a pulse and for all intents and purposes, they thought that the man was gone. But without hesitation, the two officers did what they've been trained for years to do as first responders.

"I grabbed my face mask out of the car, but it fell to the ground and I stepped all over it," Miller said. "It wasn't sterile, but luckily our security officer had his pocket mask and gave it to Gerald."

Espinoza said he began working on Castillo and opened up his airways. It was at this point that the officers made the decision to work together and determined who was going to do what — Espinoza was going to do the breathing and Miller would do the chest compressions.

"I tilted his head back and made sure there were no obstructions," Espinoza said. "I started doing the rescue breathing, and (Miller) did the compressions."

Miller said that they had performed about two cycles of CPR on Castillo before rescue personnel arrived. But within that time period of about 30 chest compressions and two rescue breaths, Miller did say that it seemed as though Castillo was struggling to breathe.

"After the first cycle of three, it seemed like we were getting what's called agonal breathing, which was a sign that it was possibly working," Miller said. "Agonal breathing is when they're trying to breathe — gasping."

When rescue personnel from Living Cross Ambulance and the Belen Fire Department arrived a few minutes later, they were able to use tools that the officers didn't have, such as a defibrillator to be able to shock his heart. Miller said that, by the time the paramedics left the scene, they had found a pulse and some heart signs.

"The big thing for me was that I needed to know how he was doing — one way or another," Miller said. "It was about 15 or 20 minutes later that we got a call from our rescue guys who said that Mr. Castillo was already at the hospital talking to doctors."

Both Espinoza and Miller said that it's not that often in their line of work that they get to see something that's bad like this, turn out to be good. They said that it's a great feeling that their years of training paid off in this case and that Castillo is doing well.

"I did this once about 10 years ago, and it actually was another one that survived as well," Espinoza said. "He had a heart attack and was able to make it to his 50th wedding anniversary. It just goes to show you that training pays. We go over it every year, and sometimes it can be monotonous, but you never know when you're going to have to use it."

Miller said that, as a police officer, he sees so many things that sometimes break his heart, but they still have to deal with it and be professional.

"I told (Daniel) that God has plans for his father and that it just wasn't his time," Miller said. "There are so many things that could have happened — he could have crossed the lanes and hit another car and hurt someone, and I don't know how he missed the pole. It's kind of neat how God works it out, and I'm glad a family doesn't have to grieve. I'm just extremely happy that the Castillo family can have their father for just another day."

Daniel Castillo said when he saw his father unconscious and not breathing, he was in a state of shock and to see the officers work coolly under pressure, he was very relieved that someone was there to help.

"I'm just very grateful for them being there so quickly," Castillo said of the officers and rescue personnel. "Everyone, even the doctor, said it was a miracle."

Castillo said his father had a cardiac arrest in which his heart went into a bad rhythm not allowing blood get to his brain. The younger Castillo said that's why his father lost consciousness and crossed the lanes of traffic.

Today, Lorenzo Castillo, who is a disabled veteran, retired from the post office after 31 years of service and a deacon at Immaculate Conception Church in Tomé, is in the Veteran's Administration Hospital in Albuquerque. His son said Lorenzo is recovering and doing well, but that he doesn't recall the events of that fateful day.

"He had a heart problem in 2005, and they put a stint in an artery," Lorenzo said. "But that day, he was fine — we had just talked at the MVD. They just can't explain it because all his arteries are still clear, and they don't know why his heart went into the rhythm.

"Now, he'll leave the hospital protected — they put in a defibrillator device this week," he said. "We're just happy to have our father. Nothing else really matters."

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