- Joined
- Apr 18, 2002
- Messages
- 8,069
- Reaction score
- 25
For those of you that do not know StickDummy aka Pete Reiff, I would like to introduce you to this man and tell you about what he did tonight.
I met Pete just after 911 as I was undergoing entry training for my job. Part of the training/certification process we have to go through is CPR, First Aid, and PDT. The instructor was Pete Reiff. During a break he told me about a class he was excited about going to when we were finished, a knife fighting class. That remark started what is now a very close friendship between the Seigels and the Reiffs. Every year, I have to be recertified, and every year, Pete is the instructor.
A little over a year ago, Pete was involved in an auto accident where a dump truck lost control and hit 9 cars, Pete being one of the victims. Despite his own injuries, he began triage and administering aid until paramedics could arrive. No matter the circumstance, Pete stays professional.
We typically hold classes in my back yard in a specially designated area, we finished up about 9:30 pm. After class, we usually congregate on my front porch for about 15 minutes before everyone goes home and I leave for work. Tonight, Pete saved another life.
Tess and I live directly across from a fire hall. As we walked up to the porch, a woman stopped at the entrance to the fire hall and started screaming, "My Baby! My Baby isn't breathing!" Seeing no response from the fire hall, Pete looked at me and said, "Let's move." We ran to the car where Pete immediately took command of the scene. The "Baby" was a 230+ pound afro-amercian approximately 40 years old. Pete checked the man and found he was in fact not breathing. Pete told me to help him remove the man from the vehicle and lay him on the ground. This was harder than it sounded as the man was only wearing a pair of jogging shorts. Once we had the man laid out on the ground, I asked him what he wanted me to do. He told me to go to the fire hall, make sure help was on the way and then get back to him. Pete checked the man and found he still had a pulse, as he was re-establishing the man's air way, he kept talking to the man, "Stay with me." At this point, all I could do was wait for Pete to give me another order; I expected to be required to do chest compressions at any second. Fortunately, that was not required. The man had a pulse, although he quit breathing twice. After what was probably three or four minutes, but felt like an hour, the fire-fighter showed up. I will not comment on the firefighter other than to say he was unprofessional and out of his league. As the firefighter began to unload his jump kit, he got out his oxygen bottle and a rebreather mask. He tried to put the rebreather on, without prepping it first, Pete took the mask and prepped it and then put it on the victim as the firefighter was figuring out how to hook it up to the oxygen. While he was doing this, Pete was also questioning the victim's female companion about what happened and if the victim had taken anything. It turns out he had been taking an asthma medication, apparently the attack was so severe that his companion was taking him to the hospital as he was hitting his medication. It would appear he took too much and entered respiratory arrest. The firefighter continued his unprofessional behavior, which really stood out against Pete's total professionalism. Shortly thereafter, the Paramedic Squad arrived and began hooking the victim up to an ECG, his pulse was highly erratic, plunging from 62 bpm down to 16 and then back up. The Captain of the local company also responded, hooking the victim up to an IV. After they intabated him, we were able to put him on to a back board and load him onto a stretcher. He was then loaded into an ambulance.
If it had not been for Pete's quick thinking, professional demeanor, and superior skills, this man would not have survived until the ambulance arrived.
Pete,
:asian:
I met Pete just after 911 as I was undergoing entry training for my job. Part of the training/certification process we have to go through is CPR, First Aid, and PDT. The instructor was Pete Reiff. During a break he told me about a class he was excited about going to when we were finished, a knife fighting class. That remark started what is now a very close friendship between the Seigels and the Reiffs. Every year, I have to be recertified, and every year, Pete is the instructor.
A little over a year ago, Pete was involved in an auto accident where a dump truck lost control and hit 9 cars, Pete being one of the victims. Despite his own injuries, he began triage and administering aid until paramedics could arrive. No matter the circumstance, Pete stays professional.
We typically hold classes in my back yard in a specially designated area, we finished up about 9:30 pm. After class, we usually congregate on my front porch for about 15 minutes before everyone goes home and I leave for work. Tonight, Pete saved another life.
Tess and I live directly across from a fire hall. As we walked up to the porch, a woman stopped at the entrance to the fire hall and started screaming, "My Baby! My Baby isn't breathing!" Seeing no response from the fire hall, Pete looked at me and said, "Let's move." We ran to the car where Pete immediately took command of the scene. The "Baby" was a 230+ pound afro-amercian approximately 40 years old. Pete checked the man and found he was in fact not breathing. Pete told me to help him remove the man from the vehicle and lay him on the ground. This was harder than it sounded as the man was only wearing a pair of jogging shorts. Once we had the man laid out on the ground, I asked him what he wanted me to do. He told me to go to the fire hall, make sure help was on the way and then get back to him. Pete checked the man and found he still had a pulse, as he was re-establishing the man's air way, he kept talking to the man, "Stay with me." At this point, all I could do was wait for Pete to give me another order; I expected to be required to do chest compressions at any second. Fortunately, that was not required. The man had a pulse, although he quit breathing twice. After what was probably three or four minutes, but felt like an hour, the fire-fighter showed up. I will not comment on the firefighter other than to say he was unprofessional and out of his league. As the firefighter began to unload his jump kit, he got out his oxygen bottle and a rebreather mask. He tried to put the rebreather on, without prepping it first, Pete took the mask and prepped it and then put it on the victim as the firefighter was figuring out how to hook it up to the oxygen. While he was doing this, Pete was also questioning the victim's female companion about what happened and if the victim had taken anything. It turns out he had been taking an asthma medication, apparently the attack was so severe that his companion was taking him to the hospital as he was hitting his medication. It would appear he took too much and entered respiratory arrest. The firefighter continued his unprofessional behavior, which really stood out against Pete's total professionalism. Shortly thereafter, the Paramedic Squad arrived and began hooking the victim up to an ECG, his pulse was highly erratic, plunging from 62 bpm down to 16 and then back up. The Captain of the local company also responded, hooking the victim up to an IV. After they intabated him, we were able to put him on to a back board and load him onto a stretcher. He was then loaded into an ambulance.
If it had not been for Pete's quick thinking, professional demeanor, and superior skills, this man would not have survived until the ambulance arrived.
Pete,
:asian:
artyon:
