Tim Hinz of South Haven probably couldn’t have picked a better place for his heart to stop pumping. The 37-year-old family man went into sudden cardiac arrest in the Buffalo Clinic parking lot, which is attached to Buffalo Hospital, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, while helping a friend start a stalled car. Within minutes numerous emergency workers were at his side giving lifesaving shocks with an automated external defibrillator and administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Hinz lived to tell about it Wednesday, Feb. 18, at a ceremony in the hospital to recognize 10 people who helped save his life. A concrete worker, Hinz lives near South Haven with his wife, Tammy, and sons A.J., 9, and Colby, 4. "It’s real lucky" the emergency happened where it did, he said, crediting his being alive to that and all the people who came to his aid. "If it would have happened at home, I’d be dead and I wouldn’t be here," he said. "There must be somebody up there looking down on me for whatever reason. It was damn lucky." Here’s what happened, according to accounts of some of those involved: Hinz’s friend Ted Hilsgen of South Haven picked him up that cold winter morning to help him start a van owned by Hilsgen’s girlfriend, who had left it in the Buffalo Clinic lot. Hinz had been sitting in the front passenger seat of the car thumbing through a magazine when Hilsgen got in the driver’s seat about 11 a.m. to warm up. He thought his friend was sleeping and elbowed him, but Hinz fell against the door. "That’s when I knew something was wrong." He called 911 on his cell phone, adjusted Hinz’ seat to a reclining position and began performing chest compressions on him. Police arrived in about two minutes. "They were very fast." Wright County sheriff’s deputy Aaron Myren got there seconds before Buffalo police officer Jennifer Almeida. Myren pulled Hinz out of the car, laid him on the ground and did chest compressions. Using the AED Almeida carries in her squad car, Myren prepared Hinz and she applied the shock to restart his heart. Multiple shocks The two shocked Hinz "multiple times," according to Myren. Then deputies James Parker and Jason Oltmanns arrived to administer chest compressions and oxygen. Buffalo officers Rick Chirero and Josh Erickson arrived to help the others, as did Buffalo Clinic doctors Cynthia Larson and Brett Oden. They got Hinz on a gurney and wheeled him through the clinic hallways to the hospital emergency room. There ER nurses and Dr. Gary Starr took over and prepared Hinz for Allina Ambulance to take him to Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids, a facility with a higher care level. Allina Ambulance manager Brian Nord arrived on the scene to provide support, and Allina emergency medical technician Patty Rose of Annandale was in the ER after another call. She helped place Hinz on a bed and took over from a doctor who had been performing chest compressions. Rose, paramedic Bill Sandberg and another medic set out with Hinz for Mercy, but they weren’t even out of Buffalo when Sandberg told her to pull over because the patient had gone into cardiac arrest and needed another shock. It was the fifth time that day that he was shocked to restart his heart. Hinz said there were no warning signs and he doesn’t remember anything until he woke up in Mercy Hospital the following Monday morning. Heart problems run in the family, he said. His father, Richard "Fuzzy" Hinz of Kimball, has had five of them and has a pacemaker in his chest. Blockage In his own case, doctors found a blockage in the main artery from the heart and have put a stent in to open it up, Tim Hinz said. He’s taking part in cardiac rehabilitation at Buffalo Hospital, and Hinz said if he takes care of himself he can lead a normal life. "I’m grateful to them for everything," he said of the people who helped him survive. Kelly Lewis of Buffalo Hospital, who is coordinator of Heart Safe Communities, presented them Hero awards. Lewis, who looks after the placement and maintenance of AEDs in the county, said they’ve saved the lives of 14 people including Hinz in the past two years in Wright County alone. There are 208 of them in public places throughout the county including 17 in Annandale, and more are being added. People can buy one or get free AED training by calling Lewis at 763-684-6603. Sudden cardiac arrest is caused by an electrical malfunction that leaves the heart muscle unable to pump blood through the body. An electric shock to the heart from an AED can allow its normal rhythm to regain control. Deputy Myren said the Hinz episode was the third time he’s used an AED to help save someone in cardiac arrest in 11/2 years. "It is a lifesaving machine," he said. The experience, meanwhile, has changed Hinz’s life in other ways. He’s eating better foods and trying to quit smoking. "You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s almost taken away from you," he said.
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