EAST PEORIA — Call East Peoria police officer David Horn “The Human Defibrillator.”
Horn was honored a year ago by the city for his off-duty CPR efforts to help save the life of a heart attack victim who almost died while seated behind the wheel of his automobile.
Well, he’s done it again. Twice. In one week. Earlier this month.
“It was just pure luck that I was nearby both times to get the procedure started,” Horn said Monday. “But I can’t say enough about the paramedics with the East Peoria Fire Department. They are top notch, totally professional. Residents should feel confident knowing that if an emergency happens, that the East Peoria Fire Department is on the way. Those guys are good.”
On June 8, Horn was in his squad car in a parking lot tapping a report into his laptop when dispatch announced a single-car accident one parking lot away.
“I was there in 30 seconds. There were civilians standing outside telling me a man was having a seizure. He was unresponsive, and his color was not good. Got him on the ground and started doing chest compressions and got a response, but every time I stopped, he stopped,” Horn said. “The paramedics came and took over.”
Four days later, Horn was wrapping up a shift and was about to head for home when dispatch reported a man was having a heart attack inside a nearby residence.
“So I responded to the call,” Horn said. “Got there, the man is in a recliner and his wife is hysterical. I started doing chest compressions, but realized his position in the recliner was not helping. So I got him on the ground and continued with the chest compressions, 10 to 12, worked that for a couple of minutes until the paramedics arrived.”
When Horn arrived, the man had no pulse. By the time paramedics had the man into the ambulance, his heart was beating again.
Horn’s efforts came at a time when improvements are being made to the way the East Peoria Fire Department handles cardiac arrest dispatches. Thanks to a $463,637 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the department has purchased three mechanical CPR devices that improve a victim’s chances of surviving a heart attack.
The devices are attached on top of and under a patient and perform continuous chest compressions, freeing paramedics to administer medications and manage the patient’s airway.
“For every minute that no CPR is done, a patient’s survival rate drops by 10 percent,” said Assistant Fire Chief Ryan Beck. “It takes 20 to 30 compressions to get blood moving again. The mechanical CPR device does not stop administering compressions, even when moving the patient to the stretcher and getting them in and out of the ambulance.”
Each of the department’s three front-line ambulances will have a mechanical CPR device.
Horn will receive a second official commendation in a year from the East Peoria City Council at its June 30 meeting. In a 13-year police career, Horn has performed CPR on several victims of cardiac arrest. But, until last year, those patients were revived, only to die in a day or two.
“I was honored and proud of what I did, but that really only gave the families some time to say good-bye,” Horn said. “The last couple of times, the patients have lived, and that is a really good feeling.”
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