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Dean Geary sat on the sideline of a junior varsity basketball game at West Jessamine High just like he has done for 38 winter seasons.
As an athletic trainer with the Jessamine County School District, he's considered the emergency responder of the sideline.
The basketball game had just begun on Feb. 19 when his assistant principal walked up to him.
Dean, we've got a lady outside in the front lot that's having a seizure, the administrator said.
Geary left the gym. As he got near a car with a door open, he could hear a woman's voice counting aloud as she delivered chest compressions to another woman on the ground.
Geary yelled to the assistant principal to get the AED, a life-saving medical device, in the front office, just like they had practiced before the season. Kentucky state law requires all school districts to simulate their emergency action plan — or response to an emergency event, cardiac or otherwise — prior to every season.
Geary ran around the vehicle and knelt on the asphalt to be ready to take over delivering chest compressions. He later learned the woman on the ground was the grandmother of one of the visiting team's players.
He could hear her tight breaths, known as agonal breathing. The AED, he timed, was by her side within about a minute and a half.
"Since the woman was doing CPR, I got the AED ready," he said. "We got it on her and it did it's thing of analyzing. It said, 'No shock necessary.' So she started back up on CPR and then I took over after that."
Sara Crum, who is in her second year as superintendent but in her 26th year with the district, said each year the district takes into account new guidance from the health care profession, legislators in Frankfort, Kentucky's Center for Safe School and input from local first responders to update their response plans to emergency events.
"We have lots of safety protocols we put in place on the front end in an effort to be prepared in the event of an emergency," Crum said. "Very, very rarely do we have to implement those things. A lot of our safety measures are put in place and we never even use them, but they're there for those rare chances that something comes up that needs that plan to be activated."
More: Safer Sidelines: An in-depth look at sudden death in high school sports
This is an event Geary trained for since before he became licensed as an athletic trainer in 1983.
Back then he was a student athletic trainer at Western Kentucky University where his athletic training advisors, Bill Edwards and Ron Dunn, told him that to understand emergency sports medicine, he should immerse himself in understanding emergency response. So Geary became certified as an EMT, or emergency medical technician.
Then as a graduate athletic training assistant at the University of Kentucky, he began working on the rescue and recovery ambulance squad in Jessamine County.
Double murder suicides. Car wrecks where he performed CPR right there on the side of the road. Back then, he'd have nights where he volunteered at four or five rescue events a night in a six-hour period. Not all led to saves.
The one that he still carries with him is the delivery of a stillborn baby.
He had to do CPR on the baby all the way from downtown Nicholasville to UK Hospital.
"Back then, US-27 was two lanes," he said. "It wasn't four lanes like now. Of course, the baby didn't make it."
He was solemn. UK's then-athletic trainers Al Green and Sue Stanley took him to talk to people about how to deal with the trauma. This is his reality, a constant reminder of how precious life can be.
"I also delivered one that came out kicking and screaming," he said a couple beats later, filling the conversation with a deep joyful laugh. "After that, I learned if you go pick up a pregnant lady, be at her head, not the feet."
Geary signed up for a job that can celebrate a touchdown one minute and be triaging a nasty compound fracture the next.
That's why athletic trainers are important, Kevin Brown, the president of the Kentucky Athletic Trainers' Society and also Geary's boss, said.
"It's very important for school districts to have athletics trainers because they’re often the first line of defense should an event occur," Brown said. "It’s very important that AEDs are present and accessible within three minutes of every venue to improve the chance of survival.
"The event last week at West Jessamine also showed the importance of having an emergency action plan that was simulated with every member of the coaching staff and administration to ensure a great outcome."
Jessamine County School District has three athletic trainers, one at each high school and one for the middle schools. They are in constant communication, Crum said, to determine coverage of practice and games.
She was thankful on Feb. 19 that Geary, whom she called "a legend around here," was assigned to cover that JV basketball game.
"I think it would be safe to say that position has become incredibly important to our school district," Crum said.
Thanks to the actions of Geary and local responders, the woman left the scene breathing on her own. The last update Geary received was that she was progressing positively at the hospital. He still doesn't know her name or that of the woman who first delivered the compressions.
But Geary will shy away at being called the title that he has silently carried across more than four decades ... a life saver.
"I did my job," he said. "I did what I've been trained to do."
More: Sports safety: 10 questions to ask if you’re a parent of a youth athlete
Stephanie Kuzydym is an enterprise and investigative sports reporter with a focus on the health and safety of high school athletes. Reach her at [email protected] or @stephkuzy.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Jessamine County athletic trainer uses AED to save woman's life
Continue reading...
As an athletic trainer with the Jessamine County School District, he's considered the emergency responder of the sideline.
The basketball game had just begun on Feb. 19 when his assistant principal walked up to him.
Dean, we've got a lady outside in the front lot that's having a seizure, the administrator said.
Geary left the gym. As he got near a car with a door open, he could hear a woman's voice counting aloud as she delivered chest compressions to another woman on the ground.
Geary yelled to the assistant principal to get the AED, a life-saving medical device, in the front office, just like they had practiced before the season. Kentucky state law requires all school districts to simulate their emergency action plan — or response to an emergency event, cardiac or otherwise — prior to every season.
Geary ran around the vehicle and knelt on the asphalt to be ready to take over delivering chest compressions. He later learned the woman on the ground was the grandmother of one of the visiting team's players.
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He could hear her tight breaths, known as agonal breathing. The AED, he timed, was by her side within about a minute and a half.
"Since the woman was doing CPR, I got the AED ready," he said. "We got it on her and it did it's thing of analyzing. It said, 'No shock necessary.' So she started back up on CPR and then I took over after that."
Sara Crum, who is in her second year as superintendent but in her 26th year with the district, said each year the district takes into account new guidance from the health care profession, legislators in Frankfort, Kentucky's Center for Safe School and input from local first responders to update their response plans to emergency events.
"We have lots of safety protocols we put in place on the front end in an effort to be prepared in the event of an emergency," Crum said. "Very, very rarely do we have to implement those things. A lot of our safety measures are put in place and we never even use them, but they're there for those rare chances that something comes up that needs that plan to be activated."
More: Safer Sidelines: An in-depth look at sudden death in high school sports
Trained in emergency response
This is an event Geary trained for since before he became licensed as an athletic trainer in 1983.
Back then he was a student athletic trainer at Western Kentucky University where his athletic training advisors, Bill Edwards and Ron Dunn, told him that to understand emergency sports medicine, he should immerse himself in understanding emergency response. So Geary became certified as an EMT, or emergency medical technician.
You must be registered for see images attach
Then as a graduate athletic training assistant at the University of Kentucky, he began working on the rescue and recovery ambulance squad in Jessamine County.
Double murder suicides. Car wrecks where he performed CPR right there on the side of the road. Back then, he'd have nights where he volunteered at four or five rescue events a night in a six-hour period. Not all led to saves.
The one that he still carries with him is the delivery of a stillborn baby.
He had to do CPR on the baby all the way from downtown Nicholasville to UK Hospital.
"Back then, US-27 was two lanes," he said. "It wasn't four lanes like now. Of course, the baby didn't make it."
He was solemn. UK's then-athletic trainers Al Green and Sue Stanley took him to talk to people about how to deal with the trauma. This is his reality, a constant reminder of how precious life can be.
"I also delivered one that came out kicking and screaming," he said a couple beats later, filling the conversation with a deep joyful laugh. "After that, I learned if you go pick up a pregnant lady, be at her head, not the feet."
'First line of defense'
Geary signed up for a job that can celebrate a touchdown one minute and be triaging a nasty compound fracture the next.
That's why athletic trainers are important, Kevin Brown, the president of the Kentucky Athletic Trainers' Society and also Geary's boss, said.
"It's very important for school districts to have athletics trainers because they’re often the first line of defense should an event occur," Brown said. "It’s very important that AEDs are present and accessible within three minutes of every venue to improve the chance of survival.
"The event last week at West Jessamine also showed the importance of having an emergency action plan that was simulated with every member of the coaching staff and administration to ensure a great outcome."
Jessamine County School District has three athletic trainers, one at each high school and one for the middle schools. They are in constant communication, Crum said, to determine coverage of practice and games.
You must be registered for see images attach
She was thankful on Feb. 19 that Geary, whom she called "a legend around here," was assigned to cover that JV basketball game.
"I think it would be safe to say that position has become incredibly important to our school district," Crum said.
Thanks to the actions of Geary and local responders, the woman left the scene breathing on her own. The last update Geary received was that she was progressing positively at the hospital. He still doesn't know her name or that of the woman who first delivered the compressions.
But Geary will shy away at being called the title that he has silently carried across more than four decades ... a life saver.
"I did my job," he said. "I did what I've been trained to do."
More: Sports safety: 10 questions to ask if you’re a parent of a youth athlete
Stephanie Kuzydym is an enterprise and investigative sports reporter with a focus on the health and safety of high school athletes. Reach her at [email protected] or @stephkuzy.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Jessamine County athletic trainer uses AED to save woman's life
Continue reading...
