Rick Mylin doesn't look like someone who suffered a heart attack.
Mylin, 45, of Warsaw isn't overweight. He doesn't smoke, stays active and doesn't have high cholesterol.
His dad died of a heart attack at 59, and had it not been for the actions of his family, emergency response workers and the staff at KCH, he may have met the same fate July 12.
That day was a typical Saturday for the Mylin family - Rick's wife, JoLynn; his daughter, Tayler; and son, Kyler.
That was until Rick thought he pulled a muscle. He was running errands that day and, while at a local hardware store, called his wife to tell her he didn't feel well.Instead of letting his wife pick him up, Rick drove home, unhitched a trailer from his truck and went inside.
"I just had a sense something was wrong," said JoLynn, who kept encouraging Rick to go to the hospital.
"I said no because I'm going to feel real stupid for going to the hospital with a pulled muscle," said Rick.
Finally, Rick relented and allowed his wife to take him to the hospital, though he wanted to drive. Rick decided to change clothes before going to Kosciusko Community Hospital when he told his wife he may also have some indigestion.
Rick got into the family's vehicle intent on driving. Then, according to JoLynn, he became stiff, pale and his eyes rolled in the back of his head. Rick became unconscious with his foot on the gas pedal with the vehicle running and the transmission in park.
JoLynn and Tayler immediately jumped into action.
Tayler, 13, had learned CPR in 2007 and wasted no time in trying to save her dad's life.
"It was kind of weird," said Tayler, "but I remembered everything I was taught."
Rick's family, including sister Kris Cultice, met with emergency response staff as well as hospital staff to talk about his ordeal Monday afternoon at KCH.
"It's amazing Tayler was able to do that under that situation," said Dr. David Hartman, the medical director at KCH who treated Rick that day.
When medics arrived to care for Rick, they began performing only chest compressions on Rick.
"He was one of the first people that got new protocols," said Hartman.
Hartman explained that Kosciusko County changed its protocols based on extensive studies from Arizona. If a person is down for more than a few minutes, compressions only are much more effective in saving their lives than compressions combined with breathing.
KCH became an accredited chest pain center in 2007.
"After about four minutes, the heart muscles don't have any energy," said Hartman.
Hartman said that to be effective, someone needs to have 200 compressions performed in two minutes.
Those compressions need to be done in the center of the chest and must be full, deep compressions where the person performing them pushes hard on the victim's chest.
These new protocols have increased the save rate of people who suffer a heart attack outside of a hospital.
Multi-Township EMS Administrator Scott Sigerfoos said the new protocols have energized EMTs.
"When you know you're saving peoples' lives, it re-energizes you," said Sigerfoos.
Rick doesn't remember his heart attack or the following days. He was in a coma during that time. He also was kept in a hypothermic state for a time to decrease the chance of brain damage that could come from a heart attack.
Now Rick is healthy, and besides having to take medication every day, he is doing most of what he did before.
Rick and JoLynn now spend a lot of time at the Health and Wellness Center.
Had it not been for the new protocols set up by Hartman and the staff at KCH, Rick believes he wouldn't be alive today.
Rick was effusive in his praise of all those that helped save his life, including medics Rex Alley and Dave Halyman; Kreg Warren, Brooks Huffer, Fred Parrot and Jim Dietsch from the Warsaw Fire Department who were on scene; as well as the staff at KCH.
Rick's one piece of advice to men when it comes to heart health and recognizing the warning signs is simple.
"Don't try and be a macho man like I was trying to be," said Rick. "And listen to your wife. If she tells you to go to the hospital, you go."
February is American Heart Month. It's designed to help people become more aware of cardiovascular diseases that combine to be the U.S. No. 1 killer.
Signs and symptoms of a heart attack include: Pain, squeezing, fullness, discomfort or pressure in the center of the chest that lasts more than a few minutes; tingling in the left arm; discomfort, pain or pressure in the arms, neck, jaw or stomach; muscle or back ache and chest discomfort accompanied by light headedness, fainting, sweating, fatigue, nausea or shortness of breath.
Risk factors for developing heart disease include family history, as was in Rick's case; smoking, high cholesterol and blood pressure, stress, excessive alcohol consumption, inactivity, being overweight or obesity and diabetes.
To contact the Multi-Township EMS to train groups on compression-only CPR, call 574-269-1975.
