Meritus employees among group who brought man ‘back to life’

When a Falling Waters, WV, man suffered a heart attack, training kicked in for the medical professionals

Scotty Bair had just planned on going to the Williamsport Red Men Tribe 84 that Wednesday night for a drawing and to get something to eat.

It turned into a harrowing experience that, if not for the presence of several medial professionals that included two Meritus Medical Center clinical educators, could have ended in the Falling Waters, West Virginia, man’s death.

“You don’t think about who is where you’re at and why,” Bair said, days later from his room in the Meritus Intensive Care Unit. “But I know one thing. They brought me back to life.”

Theda Dofflemyer and Shannon Crilly, both registered nurses who have obtained advanced degrees that allow them to teach nursing curricula, were at the Red Men separately that night, along with an off-duty paramedic and a few other medical professionals.

Bair said he doesn’t remember much from the evening, but Crilly said Bair had fallen out of his chair.

“He just went down,” Dofflemyer said, adding later that she learned Bair wasn’t having any pain or shortness of breath before the incident.

The nurses and medical professionals made their way to him individually and found he didn’t have a pulse. Training kicked in, and each medical professional took on a role in helping to revive Bair.

“It was just a calm experience,” Crilly said. “Everyone was calm. We’ve all had experience doing this. We all knew our roles.”

Dofflemyer said she asked a waitress if the club had an automated external defibrillator, or AED, which gives electric shocks to the heart to restore its normal rhythm. Moments later, the waitress returned from the kitchen carrying the device.

After doing chest compressions and using the AED, they felt a pulse and Bair began to come around.

All told, it was about six minutes they worked on Bair. An ambulance arrived and took him to the hospital.

“It was like divine intervention that we were all there,” Crilly said.

Bair, who said he was to get a pacemaker for his heart after the incident, agreed.

“I can’t tell you how thankful I am that even one of them was there,” he said. “Thank goodness they were. They did a good job.”

Dofflemyer was glad to hear that Bair was doing better, but said she didn’t feel special for what she did.

“I don’t think I did anything that anyone else wouldn’t have done in that situation,” she said.