PORT ANGELES – Former Peninsula College faculty member Bob Lawrence is a regular at the “Noon Hoops” pick-up game in the campus gym.
Wednesday, April 26 was supposed to be just another game on the basketball court for him and his friends, but it didn’t work out that way. Lawrence collapsed on the court in the middle of a game that day from cardiac arrest, and now he’s thanking his quick-thinking teammates for saving his life.
With help from a PENCOM operator after calling 9-1-1, Allison Mahaney and Mike Aldrich performed CPR while two other friends, Randy Stone and Matt Rosener, applied the Automated External Defibrillator, or AED, and administered a shock before the arrival of the Port Angeles Fire Department’s first responders.
By the time the crew arrived, Lawrence was awake and talking. He was stabilized and transported to Olympic Medical Center.
It’s the second time an AED has been used successfully on the college’s Port Angeles campus. The first AED was installed in 2007, donated by the Port Angeles Rotary Club. There are now 13 of the life-saving devices on campus.
Approximately 1,700 lives are saved in the US each year by bystanders using an AED, according to the National Institute of Health. In this case, Lawrence recovered in a Tacoma hospital, where he received a defibrillator implant.
Lawrence later said, “My buddies saved my life and should be honored. I am so grateful for them every day!”
(Peninsula College photo: Allison Mahaney and Mike Aldrich pose with AED device)