Staff at rec center credited with saving a heart attack survivor's life

Thanks to the quick response and actions of staff at a recreation center in Centennial and local first responders, a 74-year-old man who had a heart attack survived. Now, the workers are being called heroes.

The emergency happened in June at the Trails Recreation Center when a man fainted to the floor inside the rec center. Within seconds, four staff members were by his side, jumped into action and began performing CPR. The first deputy to also respond said if it wasn't for those employees stepping up, the man would not have survived.

Travis Toler was the first Trails Rec Center employee to arrive to the man's side, and he did an initial assessment.

"I took his pulse and checked for any kind of breathing, sense of life, and immediately determined he had no pulse and he wasn't breathing," said Toler.

One employee then called 911, while others jumped into action. Others also worked to keep patrons away from the scene, to give privacy to the victim during the lifesaving efforts.

"At that point, the lifeguards were with me. I gloved up and we got ready for CPR and I immediately took over compressions," said Toler.

Three other staff members responded to help resuscitate the man, including Christina Neely.

"When I arrived on the scene, they were already performing CPR, so I jumped in and started performing the rescue breaths for this person," said Neely.

One employee was connecting the AED, while others were performing and keeping track of chest compressions. The fourth person was providing ventilation. Staff members also rotated and switched positions when needed.

"I'm thinking about the quality of what I'm doing, making sure my compression depth was good and I was at the right rate, and just focusing on quality," said Toler.

"We just kept reassessing and reassessing, trying to figure out if we were doing the next right step," said Neely.

Deputy Jeremy Kurzinger with the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office received the emergency call and was the initial first responder to show up.

"I can see four employees, all of them working in sequence. Then we started working as a team. I just jumped in as a fifth man to relieve that person doing chest compressions until South Metro Fire Rescue arrived on scene," said Kurzinger.

The group then worked together until paramedics arrived and took over.

"Then South Metro Fire Rescue looked at me, they're like, 'We're going to be transporting him. We have a pulse.' I was like, 'Okay, awesome, great,'" said Kurzinger.

Kurzinger credits the rec center stafff for saving the man's life. He added that when an emergency happens, the first few seconds and minutes are most crucial.

"Knowing that they were there as soon as he hit the ground, performing CPR, is what saved his life those first few minutes," said Kurzinger. "For them to see this and just step up to the plate is what's heroic to me. They are the true heroes."

"I was very thankful for all the training that I've had that allowed us to know what we needed to do next," said Neely, who added while you never expect an emergency like this to happen, it's what they're trained to do. "If there is an emergency, then you have people here that are trained and able to keep you alive."

The man was transported to the hospital and survived. It wasn't long before he walked through the rec center doors once again.

"I'm just elated," said Toler. "I can't put into words that feeling. It was like Christmas morning, honestly, seeing him here, healthy, back in our facility There's just no way to describe it."