Community Heroes Recognized for YMCA Rescue
Platte County, and Parkville civic leaders, South Platte Fire District and MAST Ambulance management joined the monthly South Platte Ambulance District meeting to recognize Dakota Beveridge, Michelle Blumer, Brad Dusenbery, Marit Evans, Conner Fitzgerald, Garry Linn, Matt Listhartke, Makenna Mathy, Regan Rawson, Mark Sperl, Mark Smith and Tyler Stanley for saving the life of Ken Hassler.
Hassler was taking his regular evening swim at the South Platte County Community Center that is operated by the YMCA when he suffered a heart attack that left him without a pulse or breath. Mark Smith, the Senior Aquatics Director, sounded the alarm that brought the necessary community response to save Hassler’s life. Two person CPR was started and an automatic external defibrillator (AED) was put into use and one shock restored Hassler’s pulse and spontaneous breathing began.
Firefighters and MAST arrived to take over care and transport Hassler to the hospital. The following day Hassler had quadruple bypass heart surgery and is now back to work. MAST Director Doug Hooten presented awards to all the key players in the rescue team and remarked that Hassler was alive today because “the YMCA had a plan to handle emergencies, had trained staff, had the right equipment and their team reacted with speed and efficiency”.
Hassler, pictured in the white shirt on the front row of the picture, thanked the team that saved his life and remarked about eventually returning to his swim routine.
At the end of the meeting, MAST reported on response times for the Ambulance District over the past 3 months that reflected an average response time for 31 life threatening emergency calls within Parkville that averaged 8 minutes and 43 seconds.