REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. -- Officer Tiffany Colbert didn?'t have much time to think when she was called to a scene on Redstone Arsenal where a middle-aged man was lying on the ground unconscious and not breathing.
Fortunately, she didn?'t need the time.
Much like a knee-jerk reaction, Colbert?'s emergency training took over. Before she knew it, she was on the ground beside the man, assessing his situation. There was a cut on his head and his heart had stopped beating. Colbert began chest compressions, and continued them until the Redstone Fire Department and HEMSI arrived to take over medical care.
Today, 61-year-old Navy veteran and retired Redstone employee Herb Vanburg is enjoying living thanks to the rescue efforts of Colbert and other emergency personnel. A Chugach employee made a 911 call after finding Vanburg lying on the ground near the intersection of Lacrosse and Jupiter across from the Exchange area on Vincent Drive.
?"From what we can tell, he went for a walk and he was walking about 40 minutes before this happened," said Vanburg?'s wife, Cindy, a logistician for the Apache International Office at the Aviation and Missile Command?'s Security Assistance Management Directorate.
?"He and his wife had lunch that day," Colbert said. ?"It was a pretty day for December, so he parked his vehicle and wanted to go for a walk. He had a heart attack and dropped."
Shortly after noon Dec. 10, Colbert was getting ready for her last duty of the day -- a drive through Redstone?'s housing area -- before ending her shift. She called dispatch to let them know where she was. The dispatch put her on standby.
?"They told me to respond to an unknown medical call," Colbert said. ?"I thought it might be something like someone fell off their bike and scraped their knee. They also dispatched the fire department. I just happened to get there first because I was closer."
Colbert knew as soon as she got to the scene that it was much more than a scraped knee.
?"There was this gentleman lying on his back, and the Chugach employee was saying ?'I just found him lying there. I didn?'t want to do anything that could cause more harm than help.?' I checked his vitals. I saw that he wasn?'t breathing and he didn?'t have a pulse. I have worked in the medical field in past jobs, and I just knew he was gone. But my training kicked in and I started doing compressions."
Emergency medical technicians Caleb Stewart and John Galeano of the Vincent Drive fire station were soon at the scene and quickly relieved Colbert. With the help of another police officer -- Lt. Manuel Holstein -- they continued compressions and provided air to Vanburg with a breathing bag.
Stewart then inserted an airway tube down Vanburg?'s throat to allow for better airway management to administer oxygen with the breathing bag. The team then began to ?"shock" Vanburg?'s heart with an AED, an automated external defibrillator that treats cardiac arrhythmias through the application of electrical therapy to stop the arrhythmia and to allow the heart to re-establish an effective rhythm.
?"We did three cycles of compressions, shocks and ventilation," Stewart said. ?"One of us was doing compressions at all times."
HEMSI personnel then took over Vanburg?'s care.
?"He was breathing on his own and had a heartbeat before they put him in the ambulance," Stewart said. ?"They continued with bagging, though. He was not breathing effectively, but he was trying."
Colbert was relieved. ?"When the HEMSI guys were leaving, they told me, ?'We got a pulse on him by the way?' and that was good news for me," she said.
Even with a heartbeat and breathing restored, Stewart wasn?'t sure if Vanburg would make it.
?"There?'s always that worry, especially with an unwitnessed event," he said. ?"We didn?'t know how long he had been lying there, and the cardiac muscle dies fast.
?"With a witnessed event, there is a much more likely chance that the emergency treatment will be effective because you know how much time has gone by since the heart attack. It?'s called the golden hour. Early CPR, early defibrillation and early access to medical facilities make the difference."
Colbert had gotten the call at 12:28 p.m. Vanburg arrived at the hospital at about 1. About 50 minutes later, Cindy Vanburg got a call from Huntsville Hospital.
?"His cell phone was locked. He did have a wallet with his ID card in it. But we had no clue who to get in touch with," Colbert said. ?"Redstone dispatch did an Internet search to find out who we should call."
And that call came as a surprise to Cindy Vanburg.
?"He was perfectly fine at lunch," she said. ?"Then I get a call that he is at the hospital and it?'s a heart-related problem. It was a very long drive to the hospital for me. Actually, it really wasn?'t all that long, but it felt like forever."
This wasn?'t Vanburg?'s first time to face heart problems. A retired Navy commander and a retired Aviation and Missile Command logistician who was matrixed to the Missile Defense Agency, Vanburg is in good physical shape, but hereditary problems with cholesterol have caused issues with the four arteries leading to his heart. In 2001, he had a triple bypass surgery to clear three blocked arteries and in December 2012 he had a heart attack that caused doctors to insert a stent, which is a small mesh tube that?'s used to keep narrow or weak arteries from clogging.
The December heart attack was caused by blockage in Vanburg?'s stent. Doctors replaced the stent and put a second stent in another of the arteries.
?"His heart was fixed by 2:30. The doctors and everyone at the hospital were fabulous," Cindy
Vanburg said.
Vanburg remained in Huntsville Hospital through Dec. 19. He was then transferred to HealthSouth for rehabilitation. He came home Dec. 31, but pneumonia put him back in the hospital for four more nights.
Vanburg is now attending rehabilitation three times a week to help regain some cognitive skills lost due to the lack of oxygen to his brain. He is having difficulty recalling things from memory and gaining new memories. But he is expected to make a full recovery.
?"I?'m fine physically," he said. ?"I feel great. I feel the same as before."
?"His heart attack caused him to lose oxygen from his brain for five minutes," Cindy Vanburg said. ?"That causes Anoxic brain injury, which means he has short-term memory loss. The recovery takes time. It can take up to a year or more. But he?'s doing well in his recovery. He is continuing to make progress."
Two of Vanbug?'s three children and his sister, and Cindy Vanburg?'s mother, who all live long distances away, visited while Vanburg was in the hospital. His sister returned recently to spend a week with her brother and his wife.
There will be more frequent visits to the cardiologist in Vanburg?'s future. He will have to maintain a heart healthy diet and his exercise regimen will be closely monitored.
?"People do not need to ignore chest pains," Cindy Vanburg said. ?"All of his heart events have been induced by exercise."
In 2001, when Vanburg had the triple bypass, he did experience chest pains that caused him to go to the hospital. In 2012, Vanburg experienced chest pains again, but they weren?'t major. He waited 22 hours after the pain before going to the hospital.
?"I had a heart attack and I didn?'t even know it," he said.
But Vanburg recalled no warning signs before the latest incident.
?"I don?'t remember anything from that day," Vanburg said. ?"I probably will never remember the events that happened. I completely blacked out."
Cindy Vanburg has met with officer Colbert to thank her for helping her husband.
?"She saved his life. Some people go through life wondering if they?'ve made a difference. I wanted her to know she made a difference in our lives," she said, adding that she is also thankful to the Chugach employee, all the other emergency personnel who came to her husband?'s aid and for the hospital staff who cared for him.
Cindy Vanburg will return to work toward the end of February. For now, the couple are enjoying their time together, and making sure that Vanburg gets to all of his doctor?'s appointments and rehabilitation sessions.
?"We met 26 years ago in the Army intern program," Cindy Vanburg said. ?"We?'ve been married for 17 years. We are going to get old together. That?'s our plan."
Vanburg?'s experience is not uncommon, especially on an installation with an aging workforce, Colbert and Stewart said. Emergency personnel encourage people to have training on CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), AED and other emergency care. Training is provided by the American Red Cross.
?"No matter what job you are in, knowing any type of life saving skills is a good thing in an emergency situation," Colbert said.
?"Since I did work in a hospital, I had extreme training. I never used it then. But I am thankful I had the training that day with Mr. Vanburg. You never know when you will need to call on your basic life saving skills."
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