Firefighters who saved the life of an Abbotsford woman were invited to a party. After the arrival of the Abbotsford firefighters at the Yntema household on Sunday afternoon, they were greeted by applause from a gathering of people in the sunny backyard.
The scene was a different one from the last time the men arrived at the central Abbotsford home a year ago. Bonnie Yntema, 60-years old was declared clinically dead after a cardiac arrest.
CPR on time
Her husband Remko was performing CPR in disbelief after waking up at the sound of gurgling noise coming from his wife. After 5 minutes, the firefighters arrived after Remko called 911. They took over in delivering CPR to Bonnie.
An automated external defibrillator (AED) was used to restore the heart to its regular rhythm. According to Remko, it was a scary ordeal. He moved to the kitchen to inform their children of what was happening while the team continued to work on his wife who has no history of heart issues.
It was around 40 minutes when Bonnie was stabilized enough to be transported to a healthcare facility. Bonnie suffered a second cardiac arrest at the healthcare facility and revived once again with the defibrillator paddles. In the next 2 days, she was in a medically-induced coma to prevent brain damage. Her family was not sure if she could recognize them when she woke up. Luckily, she recognized her husband, children, and other loved ones the next day and her path to recovery started.
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Learn how to be ready for emergencies by enrolling in our CPR and AED training classes. Our courses maintain social distancing measures with reduced class sizes to maintain the minimum 2 meters apart along with the mandatory use of face masks and regular temperature checks. The venue of the courses undergoes regular, enhanced cleaning, and disinfection routines.
For more information, check out these sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiopulmonary_resuscitation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_external_defibrillator