West recognized for heroic actions to save choking Veteran
“I did what needed to be done to help the guy as best as I could,” said Michael West after being presented with an ICARE Award of Excellence for his recent actions to save a patient from choking.
West, an advanced medical support assistant for the laboratory and radiology departments at the John J. Pershing VA Medical Center, was recognized by the facility’s Executive Leadership Team and members of the Police Services team Thursday for his quick thinking and heroic actions.
“Mike was the right person, in the right place, at the right time, and he used his training and knowledge to save a Veteran from a potentially life-threatening situation. He did a great job, and we couldn’t be prouder of him and how he handled the situation,” said Medical Center Director Paul Hopkins. On the morning of Sept. 15, West, a 21-year employee of the John J. Pershing VA Medical Center, was in the facility canteen getting a snack when he heard someone say a Veteran was choking.
“Somebody yelled ‘He can’t breathe,’ and then somebody yelled ‘Call a code,’ he recalled. “I just happened to be by the phone by the cash register, so I went ahead and called the code.”
Staying calm, West then walked over to the Veteran, who was being held up by another person.
“I asked the patient if they could breathe, and he was kind of catatonic and couldn’t respond, so I knew he wasn’t breathing,” West said of the situation. “I worked for Wappapello State Park as a teenager, and we were trained on how to do CPR, and that included the Heimlich maneuver. I never had to use it.”
Without hesitation, he sprang into action. “I went ahead and took him and gave him two thrusts. He coughed up whatever it was and we set him down, and then he went to vomiting, which I think is a normal response sometimes in that situation. He was breathing at least, and I was thanking the Lord that it came out” West said.
Within seconds, several staff arrived to assist, and they took the Veteran to the urgent care for further evaluation.
Looking back, West said, his immediate mindset was to “just help the guy because when someone is not breathing, you know they only have minutes. I didn’t know if they would get there in time, so I went ahead and did what I thought needed to be done. I was praising God for bringing it all back to me.”