Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 1, 1991 TAG: 9104010103
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
His voice quickened. His face reddened. He clutched the arms of his chair.
"It was a very big shock," Dowdy said. "It's very rare that a 16-year-old gets into cardiac arrest. It's definitely not something you'd expect."
Yet during a Feb. 18 assembly at Salem High School, Matthew Burge, a 16-year-old sophomore, had a heart attack. The quick response of Dowdy and four of his classmates - all junior rescue crew members - saved Burge's life.
The five students - sophomores Dowdy, Jeff Francisco, Michael Lewis, John Haley and Will Shaner - were heralded by Salem City Council recently with a resolution recognizing their efforts.
Talking with three of the five, one gets the feeling that the memory of that morning is still fresh, although more than a month has passed.
Lewis was sitting two rows behind Burge when he saw Burge collapse.
"I picked him up and felt for a pulse," Lewis said. "He wasn't breathing."
Someone phoned 911. Lewis called for Shaner and Haley to help him. Dowdy ran out to get a first-aid kit.
"I remember people yelling for me to come over," Francisco said. "I remember Trey running by me and saying `He's yours, Jeff.' "
The young men then used their combined 32 months of lifesaving training and administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Burge until the Salem Rescue Squad arrived.
Francisco, a 17-year-old junior member of Roanoke Emergency Medical Services, started the ventilation process. Dowdy, 17, who with the other three is a junior member of the Salem Rescue Squad, started chest compressions. Lewis, 17, checked for vitals. Shaner, 16, communicated with paramedics by radio. Haley, 17, became the gofer, gathering equipment.
Burge was unconscious but breathing by the time the rescue crew arrived. He was taken to Lewis-Gale Hospital, later transported to a hospital in North Carolina, then finally to Egleston Children's Hospital at Emory University in Atlanta. Just over a week ago, he received a heart transplant.
Rarely has Squad Capt. Garry Lautenschlager, in his nearly 20 years with the Salem Rescue Squad, seen or heard of successful resuscitations.
"We're real proud of them," he said of the five students. "It proves the importance of having training of junior members."
Said Dowdy, "It made me feel good. It was the first time I ever had to do that except on dummies.
"You realize that if you mess up, if you have improper hand placement, if you screw up, this person is going to die," he said.
But that is exactly what Francisco says he enjoys about being a junior crew member - "working under the stress of knowing life-and-death decisions."
The students have kept in contact with Burge's family. He will remain in Atlanta for about a month for monitoring, Francisco said.
Randy and Susan Burge publicly thanked the students in a letter published last month in the weekly Salem Times-Register.
"Every time we tell someone about what happened, we are impressed again with the maturity and clear thinking which these young men displayed," they wrote. "They will always be heroes to us."
Dowdy and Francisco attended an assembly a week after their lifesaving training had been put to work.
"We were on the edge of our seats," Dowdy said. "I kept thinking, `The last time I was here, it was not a good day.' "
Though the five students were not close friends before the incident, "we're a lot closer now," Francisco said.
"I look at us as a team," said Dowdy. "I know we can do anything now."
by CNB