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By Terry Lawler
At 10:15 a.m. on March 20, Steffen was conducting a meeting with his administrative team – Debbie Kerr, Ted Gavlin and Teresa Curley – when he suddenly collapsed on a table. Realizing that something was terribly wrong with Steffen, Kerr sent Gavlin for the defibrillator, directed Curley to call 911, and called a “Code Red” for the building. Immediately, “first responders” on the Trevor Grade School staff rushed to Steffen's office. Sarah Nelson, a 4th-grade teacher and EMT for nearby Walworth, described what happened when the Code Red Team arrived:
“George had been lifted to the floor. We got the AED (automated external defibrillator) on him, and saw that his heart was 'quivering.' The AED advised that we shock him, to 'reset' his heart, but after the shock he went flat-line. The attack had not been caused by a blockage, but an electrical problem. The equipment won't allow us to shock a flat-lined patient, so we started CPR.” Normal CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) involves a series of chest compressions alternating with breathing into the victim's mouth. The Trevor Team, however, employed the newest technique for cardiac victims – compressions only. “New research, particularly from Japan, indicates that the cardiac victim's last breath can be moved through the body, so the breaths actually hinder the chances of success," Nelson said. "The compressions are the most important thing for restoring a heartbeat.” The team did “one round” of chest compressions. “During that time, George's heart was firing sporadically,” Nelson said, “but we finally got his heart into a regular rhythm.” Steffen had been without a heartbeat for about 40 seconds. Amazingly, only 3½ minutes passed from the time that Steffen collapsed until his heartbeat was restored to a normal rhythm. “George is so lucky,” said school nurse Beth Carroll. Nelson agreed: “I'm just so glad he came back. Only about 10% of flat-line victims are revived.” Steffen returned to work part-time the first week of April and is expected to make a full recovery. Trevor Grade School has nine first responders. All of them take a CPR class every two years and a First Aid class every three. There are six first responders in the district's other building, Wilmot Grade School. In fact, two of Wilmot's first responders were in Trevor when Steffen's emergency occurred. Steve Voltz, a Trevor teacher for 32 years and a part of the Code Red Team since its inception, recalled, “The Wilmot people were very impressed with what we accomplished that day.” Voltz recalled the first time he had to deal with a medical emergency. “One of my students fell out of his desk and jammed a pencil in his leg. Fortunately, I knew enough to raise his leg and sent for help from the office.” Another time when a student suffered a broken wrist, Voltz had to improvise. “We had no school nurse and no medical equipment, so I wrapped the wrist with two magazines to stabilize it until the rescue squad could arrive.” Voltz and the rest of the staff realized that the school needed more than one or two people who could deal with an emergency, so several of the staff decided to get training. Voltz said he is proud of the leadership roles he has assumed for both his union and his school. He also has high praise for the first response team. “The rescue squad team said they were very proud of our efforts. They said our success with George was one of a minuscule number that occur.” Voltz used the incident as an opportunity to teach his students. “I asked them what they would do if I collapsed.” Their responses showed him that he needed to develop an emergency plan for the classroom. The Trevor staff are modest about their accomplishment. None of them feel that they deserve a reward or special recognition. “The positive result of our response is enough,” insisted Carroll. “We are all a team,” added Voltz. “We all are there when we hear that Code Red call.” Posted April 10, 2007 |
Trevor Grade School in Kenosha County may well be the safest school in the state when a medical emergency occurs. Just ask District Administrator George Steffen. 