A heartening event.

New Richmond News, Julie Shehane-Bannink

The call came in- a woman collapsed at the bowling center.  The dispatcher said she was non-responsive: not breathing, no pulse, CPR in progress.

The ambulance was on its way, but New Richmond police officer Dennis Hurtis was nearby and arrived at the scene within a minute of the call.  Thinking quickly, he grabbed an oxygen tank and one of two defibrillator systems recently placed in the patrol cars and ran inside.

Dee Condon lay lifeless in one of the lanes.  It had happened without warning at about 7 p.m. , Nov. 13.  One minute she was bowling one of her best games with her bowling league team and the next, she was clinically dead.

Members of her own bowling team - were already working on Condon when police arrived.  A registered nurse was giving CPR.

Hurts immediately got to work, opening his new machine and placing defibrillator electrodes on Condon.   Two shocks were administered to her heart right away.  Hurtis had never used the machine before in a real life situation, but said he didn't have time to be nervous.

Automated external defibrillators are small portable machines that deliver an electric shock to restart the heart.  The device reads the heartbeat and determines how much of a jolt is necessary.

Hurtis, along with other officers in the department, attended a four hour course on the use of the machine in August.

"The machine tells you what to do, you just listen to it," Hurtis said.  "They told us in training if you use a defibrillator in the first one-to-two minutes, you increase the person's chance of recovery by 75 percent.

Condon said she doesn't remember much about that night.

"I was bowling and I just hit the deck and ended up at the feet of one of my teammates,' she said.  "The good Lord was watching out for things."

Emergency medical workers arrived on the scene and took over Condon's care.  She was shocked one more time before being transported to Holy Family Hospital to await an ambulance from Regions Hospital in St. Paul, specially equipped to handle heart trauma.

Condon was diagnosed with a blocked right coronary.  Stent (little wire mesh) was inserted to stop future trapping and after three days she was able to go home.  She will attend cardiac rehabilitation at Holy Family Hospital for another month or so, but will be free to bowl again after that.

Dee's husband Bob said he is thankful to everyone involved.  

"I have my wife, " Bob said.  "They said her rapid recovery was due to the fast response from everyone.   They were amazed in St. Paul that a defibrillator could get to the scene that fast."

Donation made it possible.

The United Way of St. Croix County donated 14-15 defibrillators to law enforcement agencies around the county, two of those machines came to New Richmond.

"We were looking for a project to get the United Way and other foundations working together," said John Coughlin, executive director of the United Way of St. Croix County.  "We raised $65,000 for emergency related services."

Those contributing to the fund included Otto Bremer, The St. Croix Community Foundation and the United Way.  Cost of each machine was about $3,300.

New Richmond police officer Mike Kastens sought out and applied for the grant to get the machines for his department.