Lucky circumstances saved life of 33-year-old family man

Paramedics and EMTs in East Palestine hope voters will approve a tax increase for round-the-clock coverage.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
EAST PALESTINE -- Paramedic Luann Kraus saw the tombstones and knew 33-year-old Andrew McLaughlin was in trouble.
"You don't die in my squad," Kraus told McLaughlin, even as the pattern on the electrocardiogram told her otherwise.
The heart attack McLaughlin suffered March 13, 2000, was textbook, Kraus said. So was the telling "tombstone" EKG pattern. Another reading from the more sophisticated 12-lead EKG confirmed her fears.
"You sure gave me an adrenaline rush," Kraus told McLaughlin last week. It was the first time the two had met since Kraus, paramedic Nicki Hazen and Rich Pillsbury, an intermediate EMT, rushed McLaughlin to Salem Community Hospital, some 20 miles away.
Kraus hugged McLaughlin and he apologized for not thanking her sooner. "I wanted to send flowers," he said.
"You're alive," Kraus said. "That's all the thanks I need."
McLaughlin, who lives near Rogers with his wife, April, and children, Tabatha, 11; Andrew, 10; and Chelsey, 8, is a claymaker at E.R. Advanced Ceramics Inc. in East Palestine.
He was at work when the heart attack symptoms began around 11 a.m. Kraus and Hazen happened to be at the Clark Street station when the call came in, saving minutes that proved to be precious.
As Hazen raced the squad toward Salem, McLaughlin fought for his life.
"I didn't want to go nowhere," he said. "I kept thinkin' about my babies. I wasn't goin' easy."
Kraus and Pillsbury were fighting too.
"He told us he was going to die," Kraus said. "We had a hard time calming him down. Fear kills because adrenaline makes your heart work harder.
"It was a fast, stressful trip," she said. "Nicki was getting us there, and we were determined to do everything we could to keep him alive."
Kraus and Pillsbury handed McLaughlin over -- alive -- to the SCH emergency room team, and began filling out paperwork nearby. Their collective hearts sank as they heard the frantic call for a special unit.
McLaughlin's heart stopped. For 45 seconds, he was dead.
"People ask me all the time what I felt or saw -- tunnels, bright lights, all that," he said. "All I remember is my body went numb, then everything went black."
"They called for the crash team, and we figured it was him," Kraus said. "We were stunned. It didn't feel very good."
"It didn't feel very good to me, either," McLaughlin joked.
About the levy: Kraus said McLaughlin is her favorite success story. His case also illustrates how a full-time EMS unit with paramedics available around the clock could operate in East Palestine, she said.
Rather than part-time paramedics and EMTs simply being on call away from the station, a 1/2-percent income tax would fund 24-hour coverage at both Clark Street and Main Street stations, she said.
"In Andrew's case, seconds truly did count," she said. "We saved several minutes because Nicki and I happened to stop at the station that day. It's terrible when you know the patient needs a paramedic's skills and no medics are available. We lost time picking up Rich, but I saw how bad things were, and I knew I'd need that extra pair of hands."
With a paramedic and EMT already at each station, Kraus said a firefighter or any other city employee could drive the ambulance if two medics are needed to treat a patient. That would save valuable time now lost searching for a paramedic or EMT.
Kraus said paramedics and EMTs must convince city voters the income tax increase -- about $2 from each paycheck for a 40-hour work week, they say -- is a small price to pay for a chance at life.
McLaughlin said the quick action by his co-workers and the ambulance crew gave him that chance.
"They got me there quick," he said. "[Cardiologist Richard] Arnott said five minutes more and I'd have been pushin' up daisies," McLaughlin said. "I died at the hospital, but they got me there on time. I'm kickin' now."