A Scout Success Story
tstprll@COLUMBIAENERGYGROUP.COM
Thu, 25 Feb 1999 13:43:50 -0500
The following story appeared in the Columbus Dispatch 10 days ago:
>>>>>
Quick response at heart of recovery
February 16, 1999
By Kirk D. Richards
Dispatch Staff Reporter
Tim Bahls is returning to Bexley High School this morning for his first full
week of classes
since he went into cardiac arrest three weeks ago.
Bahls' family attributes his speedy recovery to the quick response of two of
his Boy Scout
leaders who performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation after he collapsed on Jan.
25.
Bahls, 15, was playing tag on the front lawn of Bexley United Methodist Church
during a
Boy Scout meeting when he fell to the ground.
At first, fellow Scouts thought he was playfully faking injury, but as Bahls
gasped
for breath, with his eyes out of focus, they realized something was wrong.
Dr. Jeff Innes, the troop's assistant Scoutmaster and a trauma surgeon at Grant
Medical Center, was in the church basement when Scout members told him Bahls
was down. Innes ran outside.
"He didn't have a pulse,'' Innes said.
Troop leader John Fenimore joined Innes to perform CPR.
"It was my first time doing it on a real person,'' Fenimore said. "Everything
was in
slow motion.''
Within about 10 minutes, Fenimore said, an ambulance arrived with oxygen.
Paramedics used a defibrillator to shock Bahls' heart back into a normal
rhythm.
Bahls was taken to the pediatric intensive care unit at Children's Hospital,
where
he was in a coma for 28 hours.
His parents, Jane and Steve Bahls, made sure that at least one of them was with
him at all times.
"It was an emotional week,'' said Innes, who also visited Tim frequently. "We
didn't know if he'd survive.''
Tim still has no memory of the cardiac arrest.
"I don't even remember going to the (Scout) meeting,'' he said.
The Bexley City Council will honor Innes and Fenimore at tonight's meeting.
Tim said he will remember to tell his friends about the importance of knowing
CPR.
Anyone can learn the basics in four to eight hours, Innes said.
Doctors implanted a cardioverter defibrillator in Tim's chest to monitor his
heart
and shock it back into a normal rhythm if he suffers another cardiac arrest.
His parents said doctors have not yet determined why one so young had a heart
attack.
"We don't know what God has planned for him, but we know it's something
wonderful,'' Mrs. Bahls said.
<<<<
In a separate interview, the SA, Dr. Innes, credited Tim's fellow scouts with
saving
his life by administering the necessary first aid until Dr. Innes and Mr.
Fennimore
arrived to take over the CPR.
We tell our scouts that according to statistics, they will be in a position to
save
someone's life once or twice in their lives. This story serves as a reminder
of
just how true that is, and that the moment can come at any time.
Thanks for letting me share this with you.
Yis,
Randy Leonard
Troop 299 Dublin
