He was teaching CPR, then went into cardiac arrest. His students saved him

Karl Arps was demonstrating the signs of a heart attack during a training course when he really had one, and went into cardiac arrest.

Realizing something was amiss, students at Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton, Wis., immediately sprung into action during the March 25 demonstration.

The last thing Arps remembers is feeling dizzy and hearing a student say he didn’t look right. The next thing he remembers is waking up in an ambulance.

“From what I was told, they did everything like we told them to do in CPR class,” the 72-year-old instructor told As It Happens host Nil Köksal. 

“Thank you does not seem enough. They saved my life, period.”

From scenario to reality

Student Logan Lehrer, a firefighter training as an Emergency Medical Technician, remembers the moment he realized something was off.

Arps’s hand had curled outward, his face was contorted and he began snoring. For a second, Lehrer says he thought it might be a joke or a test, but he felt a pit in his stomach. 

The students called over another instructor, Traci Blondeau. She tried to “snap him out of it,” and soon realized he wasn’t acting.

“That’s immediately when we started responding to the situation,” Lehrer said.

Lehrer called 911, while the others attended to Arps. Under the guidance of their instructor, they took turns administering CPR and a defibrillator until first responders arrived on the scene. 

All together, six students were involved in responding to Arps.

“We all had our tasks, and we all knew what to do,” Lehrer said. “There was not a student out there that was fumbling.”

Within minutes, first responders from Gold Cross Ambulance and Greenville First Responders arrived on the scene.

“The early recognition that Karl was in cardiac arrest, along with the immediate actions taken by FVTC students and staff, directly contributed to Mr. Arps’s positive outcome,” Nick Romenesko, executive director of Gold Cross Ambulance, wrote in an email.

According to the American Red Cross, fewer than 10 per cent of people survive cardiac arrest outside of the hospital, but the survival rate can triple for those who are treated with CPR and a portable defibrillator by bystanders.

“The students and staff involved should be incredibly proud of this outcome,” Romenesko said.

Recovering and ready for work

Arps, who underwent triple-bypass surgery in hospital, says he’s amazed he’s even alive.

“I’ve been in practice for a quarter of a century, and I can count the number of CPR saves that I’ve had on one hand. [Sometimes] we get a pulse back in the ambulance or on scene, but the person ends up passing away two or three days later in the hospital,” Arps said. 

“I had a heart attack, I had the surgery, and I walked out of that hospital seven days later.”

Arps, now on the mend, says he can’t wait to return to work in a few more months. In the meantime, he has been back to the school twice to visit his students.

“I was able to give each one of my students a life-saving pin that the college provided and give them a little sugary treat that I brought in saying thank you,” he said. 

Lehrer says the experience has taught him a lot about staying cool while responding to emergency situations. Arps says it taught him that his students really do listen when he’s teaching.

“I often think, are they just taking up space in this classroom, or are they actually listening? Well, now I know they’re actually listening and they’re paying attention,” he said. “And thank God that they were there.”