A Minneapolis 911 Operator is being hailed as a hero after giving life-saving instructions to a man whose wife was unresponsive when he tried to wake her after her loud snoring.
Chris Jesmer said that he and his wife Jeanine went to sleep as normal on the summer night that would later turn into a nightmare. Chris said that he was awoken in the middle of the night by his wife’s loud snoring and he tried to wake her to get her to stop. Jeanine did not respond to Chris’s nudging and after he shook her again the terror set in. In a panic he called 911 and asked for an ambulance.
Julia Weegman was the 911 dispatcher on the other end of the line when Chris made the call. She immediately began giving Chris instructions as he waited for the ambulance to arrive. Chris was told to lay Jeanine down on the floor and tilt her head back with his hand on her forehead. She instructed him to begin chest compressions on her count to keep the blood pumping through his wife’s heart. She stayed with him during the next four minutes until emergency workers could get there.
EMTs Kelly Schingledecker-Larson and Lynn Sommer arrived within five minutes and believed she was what Schingledecker-Larson would describe as “dead with agonal breaths.”
Chris Jesmer believes that his wife is alive today because of Weegman’s efficient instructions. He knew he had to meet Weegman and thank her for saving his wife’s life. Until they met a month after the incident, Weegman had no idea if Jeanine had survived the incident. “I’m so happy everything turned out well,” she said. “Now I know why I’m really here and why I’m doing this job,” she added.
According to statistics, only 30 percent of cardiac arrest sufferers receive CPR before being treated by medical staff. A new law in Minnesota will require all high school students to take a CPR course before graduation to make sure they are prepared for just such a situation.