Soldier saves life on Cub Scout trip

By Alia Naffouj, Fort Gordon Public Affairs OfficeDecember 1, 2011

MARTINEZ, Ga - (Nov. 18 2011) On an October morning, a Soldier out on a Cub Scout bicycle trip saved a man's life.

Maj. Geoff Duncklee, staff nurse anesthetist at Dwight D. Eisenhower Medical Center, was participating in a Pack 56 Den 4 bicycle trip Oct. 15 on Evans-To-Lock Road. After the scouts left Stevens Creek Elementary School around 9 a.m. they headed towards the Savannah Rapids on Evans- To-Lock Road. The bike ride was going to fulfill one of the requirements to receive their Bear badges. There were about six cub scouts and seven adults along for the ride.

As the group was on their way, Duncklee noticed a man not moving, face down on the ground, in between a tree and some bushes.

"What I noticed first was the unnatural position of his right arm and then his breathing," Duncklee said. It looked like someone who is performing deep breathing exercises, but it's something that I had seen before and knew that it was bad."

He left his bicycle and approached the man to check on his responsiveness.Duncklee noticed further abnormal breathing and that the man did not respond when spoken to. Duncklee then log rolled the stranger on to his back to better assess his condition. He observed that the man was blue and sweating, with no pulse in his wrist or ankle and a very faint pulse on his neck.

After checking the pulse, Duncklee noticed that the man's circulation was inadequate and breathing had stopped.

He immediately began chest compressions and asked another adult participant, Matt East, to perform a "Jaw Thrust", an effective airway technique. Shortly after starting the chest compressions, the stranger started to intermittently breathe and weakly fight the chest compressions.

Within ten minutes Emergency Medical Services arrived on the scene andtogether with Duncklee continued cardio pulmonary resuscitation. EMS performed additional techniques and a weak central pulse was observed and the patient started breathing on his own.

The man was then taken by ambulance to the hospital. Duncklee explained he was not afraid but remembered when he was younger that he had some feelings of fear when coming across similar situations. He feels his time as an Advanced Cardiac Life Support Instructor and his time at Nurse Anesthetist School helped him to be comfortable in this situation.

This is not the first time Duncklee has been in this kind of situation. When he was teenager, he had a similar experience. His medical experience started when he was 15 years old, volunteering with an Ambulance Squad as an Explorer and since then he has performed CPR 11 times in the field. Duncklee found out that the man he had performed CPR on did have a heart attack stemming from plaque in his right coronary artery and was taken to a cardiac catheter lab where they placed a stent in his RCA. The patient has no neurologic deficit and is only complaining about a sore chest.

Duncklee said he is happy he was able to help and recently "was able to meet (the man), his wonderful wife, and their friends" while he was helping with an Eagle Scout Project at the Church of the Holy Comforter. He looked so much better than when we saw him the previous Saturday. … (the man) seemed to me to be a very healthy, energetic man who is full of life,"

Duncklee said. "My understanding is that he was training for a marathon in Savannah when

his artery became blocked."