PEF nurses help officer escape death
N
By DEBORAH A. MILES
On December 2, 2009, Charles
Gordon, a training officer at the Albion
T
I
O
Correctional Facility in
Orleans County, wasn’t
T
A feeling very well. He went
to work anyway, thinking
it might be the flu.
His shift started at 7
a.m. By 9 a.m., he knew
something was terribly
S
E
S
’
S
wrong. He went to see
R
Donna Baker, a PEF
U
nurse who rescued him
once before when he fell ill
N
GORDON
with spinal meningitis.
“I felt like I was going to
explode,” Gordon said.
“Donna asked me if I
trusted her, and I told her
I did, implicitly.”
Baker did a quick
assessment of Gordon at
the nurses’ station. She
asked another PEF nurse,
BAKER
Beth Button, to help her
SAFELANDING—TheMercyFlighthelicopterwithCharlesGordonaboardmakes
take him to the facility’s
anemergencylandingattheBuffaloInternationalAirportinDecemberafterlosing
emergency room. They
powertobothengines. — Photo courtesy of WGRZ News
started IVs and
administered nitroglycerine, aspirin and
ambulance which was seven miles away. wasn’t going to live,” Gordon said.
oxygen.
Baker and the other nurses said it felt like Another ambulance was waiting at the
Gordon’s pulse was increasing to more
an eternity before it arrived. airport and rushed Gordon to ECMC. He
than 200. His blood pressure soared to
Once in the ambulance, the was unconscious. When he arrived at the
240 over 180.
paramedics recognized this 46-year-old hospital, a cardiologist diagnosed the
Others came to assist and at one point,
officer was on death’s doorstep. They problem as a rare heart infection called
Baker said she thought they were going to
called Mercy Flight, and soon the viral myocarditis. It’s an infection that can
need the AED (Automated External
helicopter landed nearby to take Gordon attack a seemingly healthy person and
Defibrillator).
to the Erie County Medical Center quickly cause death.
“Charlie kept telling me he felt
(ECMC). “The cardiologist told me and my wife
something tearing inside,” she said. “I
Suddenly, this already dire situation the quick response and actions at Albion
thought he was experiencing an
got worse. The helicopter lost an engine saved my life,” Gordon said.
abdominal aneurism. I thought it was
and was forced to change course and try He was further treated, and back to
going to rupture and he was going to die.
to land at the Buffalo International work five days later.
“I said to Beth, ‘Let’s go back to basics.
Airport. Then, the other engine lost power This story is just one example of the
Let’s give him more nitro and get these
just before making an emergency landing. dedication, professionalism and skill of
lines really open.’ ”
During all this, the medical rescue PEF nurses. Baker said several of the
An ambulance was called. The facility
team was icing Gordon’s chest to lower nurses and administrators at Albion
was locked down. There was no
his heart rate. helped.
movement, except waiting for the
“They called my wife and told her I “The entire medical staff is excellent,”
Baker said. “There have been many
occasions where nurses helped other
H
el
p
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a
k
e
officers and staff in need. They all would
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af
e
do whatever it takes to save a life.
“I wasn’t the sole person in this. There
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are a lot of heroic things we all do that go
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unnoticed.”
Gordon surely noticed their work on
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AY 25, 2010
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December 2. It is a day he will always
remember. It was two days before his
birthday. It was the day he almost died. It
Transportation is on your own.
was the day he lived to tell his story.
Page14 —TheCommunicatorMarch 2010 PEFInformationLine:1-800-553-2445
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