AED Success in MO

From Kansas City InfoZine:

Automatic External Defibrillator Used to Save Smithville Lake Patron

Smithville, Mo. - Clay County park patron Jack Morgan, 81, Independence, learned recently that having a heart attack at Smithville Lake makes him a lucky man. When Morgan started having symptoms of a heart attack after shooting skeet October 1, he asked for an ambulance.

Clay County Park Ranger Vince Wonderlich and Missouri Water Patrol Officer Kim Davis also responded and saved Morgan with an automatic external defibrillator (AED) after Morgan collapsed at the Kansas City Trapshooters Association lodge. Off-duty Missouri State Highway Patrolman Cpl. B.W. Vernon also assisted. The officers delivered three shocks before detecting a pulse in Morgan.

Morgan was transported by ambulance to Liberty Hospital and was able to speak and walk when he arrived. The emergency room doctor commended Davis and Wonderlich for their response to Morgan's condition.

Clay County started its AED program over two years ago and received five AED units from St. Luke's Mid America Heart Institute. Dr. Robert Leich, a board member with the institute and the Spellman Foundation, provides medical authorization for the county program which also includes county facilities in Liberty, Kearney and Kansas City.