http://ozarkspub.vo.llnwd.net/o37/KSMU/audio/mp3/electric-coop-teaches-cpr-amp-first-aid-its-workers-just-case_80293.mp3
RANDY: This morning you met Leo Marler and Brian Wade, linemen for Laclede Electric Cooperative in Lebanon, Missouri. On a Saturday afternoon in April 2012, they were just finishing up a service call several miles outside Lebanon when they happened on a dramatic scene: a group of people in a front yard attempting to help a man, lying on the ground, who had stopped breathing. Without a moment's hesitation Leo and Brian rushed to the man's aid and began administering CPR while waiting for an ambulance to arrive. Their quick action helped save a life, and resulted in Brian and Leo receiving the Red Cross Lifesaver Hometown Heroes Award in 2013. Both men maintain that they were simply in the right place at the right time--had they completed their service call 30 minutes earlier or later than they did, things might have ended up very differently, says Brian Wade.
BRIAN WADE: There were several different ways we could have gone about taking care of it. There was one way we could've done it that would have probably taken another 30 minutes; or we could've finished up maybe 10 minutes early. But the certain way we did it, it got us out of there at a certain time, and we pulled up to the stop sign and right across the highway, that's where it started.
LEO MARLER: Yeah, it's amazing, in making those decisions, how God's hand was in on protecting that guy.
BRIAN: He guided us to do what we needed to do, so we could help him.
LEO: Right. Because the way that we fixed the problem--(pause)--wasn't really my most-favorite way to fix it! (laughter) You know, but it was what at that time seemed the most practical--and now we know WHY it was "practical" to fix it that way. I will tell you one thing: whenever Brian and I were working on that situation, you have no idea how many times I was thinking, "Okay... what would Austin do?" And you would think, "Boy, I wish Austin was here!" (laughter)
RANDY: Leo's talking about Austin Fonda, Laclede Electric Cooperative's Member Service Director, who also happens to teach Red Cross-approved CPR and First Aid courses to the Coop staff.
"Is it mandatory for all employees to go through?"
AUSTIN FONDA: Yes, we do everybody.
RANDY: So what does the training consist of?
AUSTIN: Right now it consists of CPR, First Aid, and AED--the Automated External Defibrillator. And so they learn kind of the basics, what do you do when you show up and see somebody maybe, possibly, needing some assistance.
RANDY: Fonda explains why this emergency medical training, which has been going on at Laclede Electric for nearly 20 years, ws deemed necessary.
AUSTIN: The things that our linemen do, there's some risk involved in that, as far as electrical hazards. And so we thought, if an unfortunate event happened, they'd be trained to do that.
RANDY: Ozark Electric Cooperative services some 35,000 accounts, so their linemen cover a lot of territory in their trucks and have a great many encounters with the general public. So the CPR and First Aid training isn't just useful for helping co-workers... it can help save lives in the community, as Leo and Brian proved two years ago. Again, Austin Fonda.
AUSTIN: Our industry--we're a service industry. These guys go out every day, and 24 hours a day they can get a phone call. And so they give up a lot of personal time just to do their job. And so it's very much service-orieinted, and I think they have a heart for service. And then this is just another offshoot of--you know, some people could've driven by and said, "Ah, something is going on... but I've got--I'm suppoed to be at my mother-in-law's to eat dinner!" or something like that. So I think that's a big thing, just their heart for serving people. And events like this kind of inspire me a little bit more too, because we have 115, 117 employees, and you onlyhave eight in a class. So we're talking two classes a month for three or four months, and then one class every month... and so about July things get... (laughter)
RANDY: You're kinda burned out, aren't you?
AUSTIN: You know, "here we go again!" That type of thing. But it really makes it important. And these guys--I'm proud of them, because it's one thing to "know" it--it's another thing to DO it. A lot of us "know" things... plus they have the ability--they were able to stay calm and kind of remember things.
RANDY: Now this morning, you heard Leo and Brian mention that the EMTs in the ambulance were a LOT calmer than they were--but they still did what needed to be done while awaiting the ambulance... and both call it a life-changing experience. You'll hear Leo Marler first, then Brian Wade.
LEO: I know talking to Brian afterwards, it's kind of like, after the situation happened--(long pause)--it affects your life. I guess being that close to somebody that's dying or whatever... and it was something, it... stays on your mind for a while. Didn't really want to talk about it a whole lot then, but, you know, it's just part of it.
BRIAN: I didn't tell my wife about it for three days--I just didn't feel comfortable talking about it. You can't explain how you feel about it, because everybody's going to feel different, but it's just hard to explain how you feel.
RANDY: They were grateful--but also a little ambivalent--about the Red Cross award.
BRIAN: We appreciate it--
LEO: --"Thanks" will do, though, you know? I would do it again... I would hope that somebody would do it for me too. It's just part of one person helping another person.