Marietta Daily Journal (GA)
 FAITH & FATE: Richard Hagman collapsed in full cardiac arrest while spending a day at a park. Amy Tipton, registered nurse, and Jeff Biddy, firefighter, helped save his life.

Talia Mollett
Published: June 19, 2008

 COBB COUNTY -- Richard Hagman and his wife, Patricia, were enjoying a spring Saturday afternoon, having just watched a granddaughter, Riley, age 9, play ball at Lost Mountain Park.  
"We were just ... having fun," Patricia said.
Then everything went dark.
Richard, 70, collapsed in full cardiac arrest.
Across the park, Jeff Biddy, a 19-year Cobb County firefighter, was watching his daughters, Hannah and Hailey, play ball. Someone shouted that a man was having a seizure. Biddy ran to Hagman and started CPR.
Amy Tipton, a registered nurse in the intensive-care unit at WellStar Cobb Hospital, was also in the bleachers that day. Her daughter, Reagan, was going to start the next game. She, too, ran to Hagman, and assisted Biddy with the compressions.
"I've been a nurse for 20 years, and that's the first time I've had to do CPR like that," Tipton said.
Seconds were ticking by. Patricia's son, Joe Mayton, comforted his mother as the two strangers tried feverishly to resuscitate Hagman. A man brought over an Automated External Defibrillator (AED), which uses an electrical shock to try to restore a heartbeat. Biddy shocked Hagman twice.
"He was a 10 as far as the worst thing possible coming in," recalled physician Christy Hewling, who was waiting at the doors of WellStar Cobb for the ambulance to arrive.
For eight days, Richard Hagman lay comatose.
"We had only been married a year," Patricia said. "I understood how bad it was, but I never had that frantic feeling." Richard and Patricia had been friends at Marietta High School and reunited at their 50th class reunion in 2006.
Amy Tipton, the nurse from the ballpark, did not expect to see Hagman the next day during her shift in the ICU.
"Most cardiac arrest patients do not survive," she said.
Doctors told Patricia that her husband -- if he lived at all -- would be in a vegetative state.
But "I felt like there was still more time for us," she said. "I knew he was in there somewhere, but maybe just too deep down to come out."
She prayed that God's will be done.
After a week, Dr. George Deriso, told the ICU nurses he wanted to give Richard Hagman one more chance, and ordered Hagman off all sedation, Patricia said.
"When I got in early in the morning, I told him to open his eyes," she recalled.
Slowly, he did.
Faith, and fate, combined to ensure Hagman's survival.
"I wonder sometimes, 'why me?' I haven't always been a great example. I was an alcoholic and I could have died or ended up in jail. I've failed God so many times," Hagman said.
"All I know is, God has something more for me to do here, and I am here to honor God," Hagman said. His voice chokes with emotion as he speaks of his wife.
"She never gave up on me."
The doctors, nurses and paramedics say the combination of CPR and the AED shocks were essential. Cobb County has AEDs in all baseball parks where there are concession stands, as well as in school and government buildings.
"If he had been at home when this happened, the outcome could have been totally different," said Hewling, the ER doctor.
Jonathan Konecny, a paramedic in the Puckett EMS ambulance that rushed Hagman to the hospital, is more direct.
"If it wasn't for Biddy and Tipton working on him, he would have died," Konecny said.

tmollett@mdjonline.com

Puckett EMS parters with United Way for Incredible Kids Day

In February of this year, Puckett EMS was asked to write letters to the second graders at Compton Elementary School to help celebrate Incredible Kids Day. The purpose of the day was to motivate children to stay in school, work hard and help them realize they could achieve all of their dreams with an education.
Jake Lonas, Lorraine Stewart, Stephanie Nerlich, Shane Garrison, Renee Buchanan and Anne Ervin wrote letters to thirty students.  The employees were then asked to present the letters to the students on Incredible Kid Day on March 20, 2008.
Renee Buchanan, Stephanie Nerlich and Anne Ervin attended Incredible Kid Day at Compton Elementary. The children had no idea about the celebration until the employees from Puckett EMS, the Cobb Chamber of Commerce and members of the United Way appeared at their school.  The Puckett employees had the pleasure of reading the letters to the students. Each student was presented with their letter and given words of encouragement to stay in school.

A Friend in Need

Supporters and tenants of the Hope House in Powder Springs gather around the new wheelchair accessible ramp built by Puckett EMS of Powder Springs. From left, standing on the ground, from Puckett EMS, paramedic Mike Morris, Director of Administration Anne Ervin and EMT Jamie Furlong; on the ramp, Sowma Garton, social worker at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta; Hope House tenants Wanda Harrell of Dothan, Ala., and her grandson Tyler Harrell, 4; and Kim Bullock Unangst, vice president of the Bullock Foundation; by railing, Connie Bullock, founder of the Bullock Foundatio, with her husband Randall Bullock, holding 1-year-old grandson Cooper Unangst; volunteers Mollie Barnes, Myra Pfisterer, Ann Heddering and Rhonda Reece; and R.J. Patel, board chair of Bullock Foundation.
http://www.mdjonline.com/content/index/showcontentitem/area/3/section/18/item/107646.html

Child Safety Restraint Technicians

Child Safety Restraint Technicians: After completing a four day course, four employees of Puckett EMS are now nationally certified child safety restraint technicians. Through the leadership of Cobb Safe Kids, Puckett EMS hopes to educate the community it serves about the importance of the right child safety restraint.  The education will come through quarterly inspection stations and speaking to organizations and groups in the community about the role of safety restraints.  The employees of Puckett EMS hope that by offering this service, they will be able to reduce the number of injuries or fatalities sustained by children in motor vehicle accidents.

Partners in Education Program

Puckett EMS has partnered with Compton Elementary School in Powder Springs, Georgia to provide support and mentors for the children. Each month, Puckett employees are involved in some type of school function. Some of the events that we have participated in include the American Heart Association’s Jump Rope for Heart, PTA night and Career Day.   Employees of Puckett are also available to the teachers as resources for Read- A- Book and any other classroom activities in which they need assistance.

Youth Apprenticeship Program

This year, Puckett EMS is involved in the Cobb County Youth Apprenticeship Program being held at McEachern High School. This program provides mentors for high school students. The students spend anywhere from seven to ten hours per week on the job site learning the different aspects of the company. The program provides an opportunity for students to experience the “real world” and it may also help them chose a future career path. The two students from McEachern High School have been very involved in all aspects of the company. Some of the opportunities that the students have had include riding on the ambulances to get first hand experience, spending time in the communications center learning how to take calls and dispatch and they have also had an opportunity to be in the field with the Marketing Director calling on current customers.