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Good samaritan saves man's life

5 years 10 months 9 hours ago Saturday, December 08 2018 Dec 8, 2018 December 08, 2018 10:46 PM December 08, 2018 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE- On average it takes East Baton Rouge EMS five to eight minutes to respond to calls. While that seems fairly quick, sometimes the difference between life and death is mere seconds. For Charles Prather, it's what his neighbors did during those seconds, that he says kept him alive.

Charles Prather and his wife call him a walking miracle.

“My hands, lips, and ears were blue,” said Charles.

It was March 5th, and Charles had just gotten home from work.

“I decided to go ahead and mow my grass, first cut of the season. I mowed my backyard and went to the front yard, and I guess I was winded, and really don't remember anything in detail,” said Charles.

He was having a heart attack, that's when a passing bus driver stopped and began CPR. Some of Charles neighbors are licensed to perform CPR and also came to his aid.

“So in this situation, everything worked perfectly,” said Justin Arnone from EMS.

EMS says they've recently seen several cardiac arrest cases where good samaritans stepped in before medics arrived, potentially saving lives

“If 5 or 6, 7 minutes go by and nothing's been done, there's really nothing left to save”, said Arnone.

That's why they are urging people to learn CPR and say it’s even simpler than mouth to mouth.

“All you really need to do is put your hands on someone's chest and you push at about 100 times a minute,” said Arnone.

In Prather's case, he's made a full recovery, much to the surprise of professionals and he now believes anyone can save a life and should learn CPR.

“Until you're the victim or you've seen someone else you just don't realize,” said Charles.

Several organizations, including the American Red Cross, hold CPR training sessions each month. Click here to sign up.

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