EAST LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — Employees from the Michigan Athletic Club are “heroes” after jumping in to save a man’s life when he collapsed and went into cardiac arrest on Feb. 24.
On Monday, multiple employees were honored with E.W. Sparrow Hospital’s Starfish Award, which celebrates outstanding care.
The incident happened on one of the handball courts at the athletic club and the team members said it was something they were trained to do; they didn’t have to think twice about helping out.
The MAC caregivers said they got a call about Code 77, which covers any sort of health emergency, whether that be a sprained ankle, or in this case, a heart attack.
The group used an automated external defibrillator to help keep the man alive with electric shocks to the heart until first responders arrived and took over with CPR.
Sparrow officials said this could have been an extremely different outcome if the patient was at home and is glad that he was around experienced employees who said it was second nature to them.
“Going into the situation I really didn’t know what to expect. Especially like Lily said, every time there’s a Code 77 it could be something as small as a little bruise to something as big as having a cardiac arrest. So I think that we’re extremely appreciative that he’s doing a lot better now,” MAC Aquatic Supervisor Gunner McNeil said.
Sparrow medical officials also said the man was taken to the hospital shortly after, but he is recovering at home.
