Man survives heart attack just 2 days after surviving devastating tornado
A man who survived the tornado that destroyed parts of Logan County is alive after another emergency.
Teamwork between EMS workers and hospital Personnel helped avoid another tragedy for Don Woodmansee and his family.
“Everybody said I’m doing great,” Woodmansee said.
But just last month he told EMS workers he thought he was going to die.
Just two days after the devastating tornado in Logan County, Woodmansee was working to hook up the generator to get the water flowing again from the well at his RV park.
“Some friends stopped and talked to me and just asked me if we had the water running. I was like yeah. Then I just started rubbing my chest,” Woodmansee said. “So they said what’s wrong? And I said ah my chest hurts a little bit. So I’m going to go back here and get some rest.”
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By the time he got home, the pain had gotten worse, so his wife called 911. EMTs Leah Edwards and Chad Kean had been working at ground 0 for the last 48 hours and were there in minutes.
“I knew right away as soon as I looked at him, I said this is it. I looked at [Kean] and I said we gotta move,” Edwards said.
They needed to get through the disaster zone to Mary Rutan Hospital in Bellefontaine and fast.
“It was like bumper to bumper stopped traffic and I’m like oh no,” Kean said.
As Kean navigated the tornado traffic, Edwards called the hospital from her cell phone. The storms had taken down the networks they usually use to communicate.
“You’re having a heart attack here are the readings. I said I can’t send them. If you want me to text them I can do it. They said nope. We got them. We’re going to get the Cath team assembled,” Edwards said, describing the phone call she had with hospital personnel.
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Despite the hurdles from the tornado, Woodmansee made it in time for the Cath Lab team to perform an emergency and life-saving procedure.
“Once we are able to identify where the blockage is, we were able to go in and stint perfectly,” Sarah Brown, a registered nurse at Mary Rutan Hospital said.
The teamwork between the Medical staff and the EMTs proved to be stronger than the setbacks from Mother Nature.
“Time is muscle. Every minute that’s wasted there can be heart damage and some of it can be irreversible,” Brown said.
Woodmansee is getting stronger every day, and looking forward to his summer on the lake with his heroes to thank.
“It was great seeing all of them,” Woodmansee said.
The hospital team had Woodmansee’s blood flow restored after just 29 minutes. They said despite all the challenges of the tornado, that’s the fastest they’ve ever done that.
