How

One Employee Helped Save His Friends Life What would you do if you came to work one morning and something about your good friend and long-time co-worker just didnt seem right? He isnt talking much, hes acting like he doesnt feel well, and his stride seems a little off balance. You know your friend, and this isnt normal. Thats exactly what happened to Micah Campbell on May 24, 2010. Micah is a senior material handler at NIC. He is a member of NIs Emergency Response Team, a group of employees trained to respond to medical emergencies that arise in the workplace. Micah joined the ERT shortly after he started at NI in 1994. Before coming to NI, Micah served on a similar emergency response team in the Navy. Warning Signs That Friday morning, Sue Munoz, Micahs co-worker and fellow ERT member, was first to notice that something wasnt quite right with their colleague. Sue said Micahs friend seemed reluctant to talk to her about how he was feeling, and insisted that he was okay. Sue knew Micah had a close relationship with his friend of over 10 years, and that he would be better able to get through to him. I went and told Micah, Look, something doesnt look right, Sue said. He keeps saying hes sick and he really doesnt look good. Maybe you can talk him into going to the doctor. I could tell that she was very serious about it, Micah said. I went over to talk to him, and it was totally obvious that he was in distress. Ive known this guy a long time, and trust me, Ive seen him in bad moods. This was completely different. Micahs friend was showing all the classic signs of an impending heart attack. It really took me aback, Micah said. He was doing his work, but he was having a hard time breathing and walking. He stopped every few seconds as he was talking to me to take a big, heavy sigh, and he touched his chest a few times. Anybody whos been through emergency response training could tell he was symptomatic. Micah knew he had to act quickly to get his friend the help he needed. I said to him, Would you mind coming with me to the First Aid room to take your blood pressure? Micah remembers. I was trying to be totally calm in front of him, but when I walked back to my desk to get my keys, I was thinking, This is some serious business. Micah took his friends blood pressure and got an unusual reading, so he sought out a second opinion at the Health Center in Mopac B.

I suggested we walk over to the clinic, Micah said. He was kind of reluctant, and I tried my best to keep things jovial, but it was a long, slow walk over there. Micah told the clinic staff his friend needed to be seen right away. The nurse took his blood pressure, then she jumped right up and got a doctor, Micah said. The doctor sent him to a hospital right away. Micahs friend called him from the hospital later that day. He told me, Theyre going to put a stent in my heart. Theyre prepping me right now. The doctors were convinced he was going to have a heart attack, Micah said. He was floored, but there was zero doubt in my mind thats what was going on. I kept a poker face when I was with him, but afterward I told him, Dude, I was really worried about you. Putting the Plan In Action Looking back on that day, Micah is glad his training as an ERT enabled him to help his friend. You think about it all the time in training, how you would never want to be in that situation, Micah said. But in this instance, someone was really in trouble, so you just kind of move. It sounds clich but you just do what youve been trained to do. All along the line everything worked exactly the way its supposed to, Micah said. Were ERTs, this is what any of us would have done. The Right Man for the Job Micah may be hesitant to view his actions as heroic, but his colleagues have made certain he gets the recognition he deserves. Im just really glad that Micah persuaded him to go, Sue said. Otherwise it would have been the weekend, and he would have been home alone. It could have been fatal if he would have had a heart attack on his own with nobody to help. Micah and the other ERT members did a fantastic job on this call, said Corby Bryan, ERT supervisor. There is no doubt in anyone's mind that things could have gone much different if ERT members had not acted on their training instincts. This is just one story of many that the ERT has. They always say that there is nothing better than the heart of a volunteer and I can tell you how true that is being the supervisor for this team. A lot of heart patients arent as lucky to get it caught that early, said Kelly Phillips, ERT assistant supervisor. Ive found that in a lot of response calls we get at NI, a lot of people

tend to be very stubborn. We dont want to believe that theres something really wrong. Micah has a really good rapport with this person and he and Sue are really well known in Mopac A for being first responders. I think it was really good that he was a go-to person and that Sue noticed it. An Important Resource for NI Employees NIs Emergency Response Team was created in 1995 by Ernest Martinez, Kathy Russell and Tom Dalton. As of January 2013, there are 60 ERT members in total, with 16 in Mopac A, 22 in Mopac B and 22 in Mopac C. Every responder is trained in first aid, CPR, AED (Automated External Defibrillator) and Oxygen by Kevin Parker, a Travis County EMS captain. Corby says having ERT responders around the office is an invaluable asset for NI and its employees. Someone needing life saving interventions can get attention in as little as 30 seconds instead of waiting for 5 or more minutes for an ambulance to arrive, Corby said. We have the ability to take vitals such as blood pressure, pulse, oxygen levels and heart rhythms. We can also administer an AED and Oxygen if needed. Kelly said she wants to make sure all NI employees know to call the ERT in the event of a medical emergency. A lot of employees at NI dont necessarily know that we exist, so we also want to get the word out that if you are feeling bad, or if you see somebody that you know feeling bad or acting strange, you can always dial 0 and the receptionist will send out a call for us to respond, Kelly said. We have all kinds of protocols and we know what to look for, just like Micah and Sue knew what to look for in the case of this guy.