GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — More than two dozen people who were brought back to life after suffering cardiac arrest broke bread with those credited with saving their lives during Life EMS’ second annual lifesaver luncheon Tuesday.
If it wasn’t for the first-rate emergency medical response system in West Michigan, they may not have been able to tell their stories.
The 25 survivors have one thing in common: they were all living their lives in one moment and the next, the lights went out.
“(I) was walking to my car and fell down face-first,” Bryant VanOverloop, a father of four whose heart stopped in April 2018, said. “This is all hearsay, because I don't remember anything.”
First responders administered six shocks from an automated electronic defibrillator and continued CPR until Life EMS paramedic David White and EMT Rebecca Knepper arrived.
“It was a miracle by God,” VanOverloop said. “And I'm thankful every day that I have after it happened.”
On Tuesday, Life EMS Ambulance hosted its second annual Heart Savers Luncheon. Part of National Heart Month, the luncheon is a way to recognize and honor paramedics and EMTs who played a pivotal role in a cardiac arrest save in 2018, reuniting them with local men and women whom they revived.
Life EMS says 47 of its medics helped save the lives of 25 patients in the Grand Rapids area who went into full cardiac arrest in the last year. Patients ranged in age from 21 to 84 and the crises happened in a variety of locations, from movie theaters to soccer fields, at home and in traffic.