Multiple Heart Attack Victim Reunited With His Lifesavers at SSM St. Clare

When Eureka resident Todd Brown was having chest pains Sept. 16. Eureka Fire Protection District paramedics responded to the 911 call. When the team arrived, they found Brown had gone into cardiac arrest.

The paramedics quickly began CPR and defribrillated Brown, restoring circulation. Within a minute of the pulses returning, the paramedic team said they performed a pre-hospital EKG, and determined Brown was having a heart attack. They notified SSM St. Clare Health Center in Fenton when they were 20 minutes out to activate the Cardiac Cath Lab.

During the transport, Brown went into cardiac arrest two more times, being resuscitated and stabilized each time by the Eureka Fire paramedics.

Upon arrival at SSM St. Clare, the Emergency Department and Cath Lab teams were waiting, when Brown suffered a fourth cardiac arrest. The Emergency Department staff was able to get pulses back once again, and Brown was quickly moved to the Cath Lab for surgery where the blocked artery was opened and blood flow to the heart returned to normal.

Brown was discharged just a few days later to his home in Eureka, and has returned to work at Monsanto, where he is a chemist, according to a hospital spokesperson.

Wednesday was a momentous day for Brown, who was reunited with the Eureka emergency response crew, as well as the SSM St. Clare Emergency Department staff and Cardiac Cath Lab team, who saved his life numerous times that day.

Brown presented them all with Lifesaver Awards during a ceremony at the hospital.