December 17, 2022, started as a typical Saturday morning for Terry Benson. The Lone Oak resident was busy with house chores. Needing a circuit breaker for an electrical panel, he drove to the nearby Elder’s ACE Hardware store on Taft Highway in Walden. At the ACE entrance, Benson suffered an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), a medical event in which a person’s heart stops beating outside a hospital.
Benson’s truck came to a stop, impeding traffic with engine running and in gear. Longtime ACE manager Chad Hawkins was alerted by car horns and people gathered in the parking lot. Quickly reaching the truck, Hawkins saw Benson slouched in the cab. The doors locked, Hawkins and quick-thinking ACE customers broke the passenger window and pulled Benson from his truck. “He was blue, unresponsive, not breathing and had a faint pulse,” Hawkins recalls. “We thought he was gone.”
Hawkins, trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), began chest compressions and 911 was called. Next door and only yards away was Walden’s Ridge Emergency Service (WRES) Station One. Hawkins sent an ACE employee to the station for help at 11:50 a.m. At 11:54 a.m., WRES Capt. Sherman Ford and other WRES members arrived and took over the CPR. “We were hosting a child’s birthday party at the station, so several of us were there,” Ford says.
Ford and WRES Lieutenant Robert Clark alternated performing chest compressions and employed an automatic external defibrillator (AED) as well as a monitor and intravenous therapy (IV). Other WRES members helping with the resuscitation included Patricia Ford, Patrick Halstead, Lacey Hoover and Capt. Jody Clift.
Minutes matter following any OHCA, and the WRES responders’ actions were critical. Without them, the outcome would have been quite different for Benson. Immediate CPR with shocks to the heart from an AED can double or triple the chances of survival, according to the American Heart Association (AHA). However, AHA says odds for survival drop 10 percent each minute without CPR that keeps oxygenated blood flowing to the brain and other vital organs.
Proper CPR can be the difference between life and death during an OHCA. According to a 2022 report from the AHA, more than 356,000 OHCAs occur annually in the United States - 90 percent of them fatal - but not in Benson’s case. When Hamilton County EMS arrived, Ford says Benson, who was 63 at the time, had regained a pulse and was transported to the hospital where he recovered over the following weeks. Benson says he cannot recall anything for three weeks leading up to and following the OHCA but is currently doing fine under medical supervision.
“My heart function is still a little low, but, you know, I’m back to work,” Benson says. “I don’t do any manual labor, but for what I’ve been through, I am doing really well. The records show they did CPR on me 15 minutes before the ambulance got there. My daughter is a practical nurse. She said, “Daddy, the good ones, they won’t stop’ when it comes to CPR. There are a bunch of good ones at WRES.” Without them I would not be here today.
A Grateful Reunion
Captain Ford has volunteered with WRES since 2008 and has been a paramedic with Hamilton County EMS since 2005. The certified CPR instructor says, “The reason I volunteer is if I don’t do it, who will?” It is safe to say Ford has responded to his share of cardiac events requiring CPR over the past 20 years. He declined to put an exact number on the CPRs he has performed, saying, “The undesirable outcomes unfortunately outnumber the saved lives. It is just the nature of the beast.”
Ford recalls two times when a person he helped with CPR returned to thank him and his teams for saving their lives. The first involved a young woman who collapsed on Signal Mountain more than a decade ago during a sudden cardiac arrest resulting from a congenital heart defect. The second was Benso, who recently was reunited with Capt. Ford.
“I just happened to go by WRES one day and I noticed some people there,” Benson says. “They were having a get together for some kids. So, I went in and introduced myself and told them that the Lord had opened the door for them to be there to save my life. Sherman was there, and I got to hug his neck and thank him.”
When Ford was asked about the reunion, he says “It was a team effort,” giving credit to the other members of WRES, ACE Hardware manager Hawkins, ACE Hardware customers and Hamilton County EMS. He also encouraged more people to learn CPR. For him, CPR knowhow starts with his immediate family including wife and WRES volunteer Patricia, firefighter and emergency medical technician (EMT) son Matthew and young son Josh who spends much of his free time at WRES learning lifesaving skills next to the volunteers.
“Don’t be afraid to help somebody,” Ford says. “First and foremost, get some kind of training. There are all kinds of opportunities out there, including with the American Red Cross, the YMCA and The American Heart Association.”
Benson agrees. “Everybody ought to know CPR. We do not have enough people out there who can take care of a situation like mine. An ordinary person who has not been trained could not have done CPR on me for 15 minutes.”
Today, Benson is grateful for his life. “You know, it’s just the way the Lord arranged things,” he says. “If it happened anywhere else, I would not be here. But the timing was perfect for me to be at ACE, WRES having a birthday party and the right man there to perform CPR.”
Get Involved
To get medical help or report an emergency, call 911. It is always the fastest way to get first responders to the site for immediate help.
To volunteer or donate to WRES call (423) 886-5974, visit www.WRES.org or send a message on Facebook. Visit WRES Station One on Taft Highway any Thursday at 6:30 p.m. when the team has its weekly drill.
WRES is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, and tax-deductible donations help save millions in local taxes.
by WRES Volunteer Staff
Benson’s truck came to a stop, impeding traffic with engine running and in gear. Longtime ACE manager Chad Hawkins was alerted by car horns and people gathered in the parking lot. Quickly reaching the truck, Hawkins saw Benson slouched in the cab. The doors locked, Hawkins and quick-thinking ACE customers broke the passenger window and pulled Benson from his truck. “He was blue, unresponsive, not breathing and had a faint pulse,” Hawkins recalls. “We thought he was gone.”
Hawkins, trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), began chest compressions and 911 was called. Next door and only yards away was Walden’s Ridge Emergency Service (WRES) Station One. Hawkins sent an ACE employee to the station for help at 11:50 a.m. At 11:54 a.m., WRES Capt. Sherman Ford and other WRES members arrived and took over the CPR. “We were hosting a child’s birthday party at the station, so several of us were there,” Ford says.
Ford and WRES Lieutenant Robert Clark alternated performing chest compressions and employed an automatic external defibrillator (AED) as well as a monitor and intravenous therapy (IV). Other WRES members helping with the resuscitation included Patricia Ford, Patrick Halstead, Lacey Hoover and Capt. Jody Clift.
Minutes matter following any OHCA, and the WRES responders’ actions were critical. Without them, the outcome would have been quite different for Benson. Immediate CPR with shocks to the heart from an AED can double or triple the chances of survival, according to the American Heart Association (AHA). However, AHA says odds for survival drop 10 percent each minute without CPR that keeps oxygenated blood flowing to the brain and other vital organs.
Proper CPR can be the difference between life and death during an OHCA. According to a 2022 report from the AHA, more than 356,000 OHCAs occur annually in the United States - 90 percent of them fatal - but not in Benson’s case. When Hamilton County EMS arrived, Ford says Benson, who was 63 at the time, had regained a pulse and was transported to the hospital where he recovered over the following weeks. Benson says he cannot recall anything for three weeks leading up to and following the OHCA but is currently doing fine under medical supervision.
“My heart function is still a little low, but, you know, I’m back to work,” Benson says. “I don’t do any manual labor, but for what I’ve been through, I am doing really well. The records show they did CPR on me 15 minutes before the ambulance got there. My daughter is a practical nurse. She said, “Daddy, the good ones, they won’t stop’ when it comes to CPR. There are a bunch of good ones at WRES.” Without them I would not be here today.
A Grateful Reunion
Captain Ford has volunteered with WRES since 2008 and has been a paramedic with Hamilton County EMS since 2005. The certified CPR instructor says, “The reason I volunteer is if I don’t do it, who will?” It is safe to say Ford has responded to his share of cardiac events requiring CPR over the past 20 years. He declined to put an exact number on the CPRs he has performed, saying, “The undesirable outcomes unfortunately outnumber the saved lives. It is just the nature of the beast.”
Ford recalls two times when a person he helped with CPR returned to thank him and his teams for saving their lives. The first involved a young woman who collapsed on Signal Mountain more than a decade ago during a sudden cardiac arrest resulting from a congenital heart defect. The second was Benso, who recently was reunited with Capt. Ford.
“I just happened to go by WRES one day and I noticed some people there,” Benson says. “They were having a get together for some kids. So, I went in and introduced myself and told them that the Lord had opened the door for them to be there to save my life. Sherman was there, and I got to hug his neck and thank him.”
When Ford was asked about the reunion, he says “It was a team effort,” giving credit to the other members of WRES, ACE Hardware manager Hawkins, ACE Hardware customers and Hamilton County EMS. He also encouraged more people to learn CPR. For him, CPR knowhow starts with his immediate family including wife and WRES volunteer Patricia, firefighter and emergency medical technician (EMT) son Matthew and young son Josh who spends much of his free time at WRES learning lifesaving skills next to the volunteers.
“Don’t be afraid to help somebody,” Ford says. “First and foremost, get some kind of training. There are all kinds of opportunities out there, including with the American Red Cross, the YMCA and The American Heart Association.”
Benson agrees. “Everybody ought to know CPR. We do not have enough people out there who can take care of a situation like mine. An ordinary person who has not been trained could not have done CPR on me for 15 minutes.”
Today, Benson is grateful for his life. “You know, it’s just the way the Lord arranged things,” he says. “If it happened anywhere else, I would not be here. But the timing was perfect for me to be at ACE, WRES having a birthday party and the right man there to perform CPR.”
Get Involved
To get medical help or report an emergency, call 911. It is always the fastest way to get first responders to the site for immediate help.
To volunteer or donate to WRES call (423) 886-5974, visit www.WRES.org or send a message on Facebook. Visit WRES Station One on Taft Highway any Thursday at 6:30 p.m. when the team has its weekly drill.
WRES is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, and tax-deductible donations help save millions in local taxes.
by WRES Volunteer Staff
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