By EMS1 Staff
SPOKANE, Wash. — A firefighter-paramedic was saved by his wife when he went into cardiac arrest, thanks to CPR training he gave her more than 30 years ago.
KHQ reported that Rick and Carol Stone had just gotten home from dinner when Rick collapsed suddenly.
Carol, who is also a paramedic, immediately began CPR after realizing he was in cardiac arrest and continued for seven minutes until responders arrived.
“If she wasn’t here I would have died,” Rick said.
Rick has been a paramedic for more than 30 years, and a firefighter since he was 14. He has trained hundreds of people throughout his career, including his wife.
“That’s what saved him is the CPR ... which she learned from him,” Deer Park Ambulance Director of Operations Steve Cooks said.
“To turn around and save the one person that trained you how to do it, I’ve never heard of a case like that,” EMT instructor Shaun Pitts said.
Rick was placed in a medically-induced coma for two weeks before undergoing a triple bypass heart operation. A month later, he is back home.
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