Fair Haven resident Christine Eberhard and four emergency responders were recognized with lifesaving awards Monday night for their quick action in saving the life of Greg Strasser, another borough resident, earlier this month.
According to First Aid Squad Captain Kim Ambrose:
Strasser went into Fairwinds Deli on River Road on June 2 and promptly collapsed. His heart was in an arrhythmia, which was keeping him from getting a good supply of oxygen to his brain. The workers at Fairwinds called 911 and then went outside and yelled, “does anyone know CPR?”
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Christine was walking out of Booskerdoos across the street and heard them yelling. She used to be a gym teacher at Red Bank Regional and had to be CPR certified every year. She gave her coffee to her friend and told her friend to take care of her baby and ran across the street. When she went into Fairwinds, Greg was lying on the ground. “His eyes were dead,” she said. “He was dead.” She started CPR.
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At that moment, Wade Davis pulled into the Fairwinds lot to get a breakfast sandwich when his pager went off saying there was a fall victim at Fairwinds. He walked in and saw Christine doing CPR. He had his friend grab his jump bag and he put an oral airway in to keep Strasser’s airway open and used a bag valve mask on Greg to administer oxygen. The police officers arrived and hooked up Greg to the AED [automated external defibrillator], which delivered a shock, and the First Aid Squad arrived right after.
MONOC arrived soon after that, and Greg was loaded into a rig and transported to Riverview Medical Center. During the transport he lost his pulse again, CPR was started and he was shocked again with the AED. He regained pulses again and the staff at RMC took over from there. He eventually had cardiac surgery at RMC and was released.
In the photo above, from left, are: Corporal John Wants, Christine Eberhard, Mayor Ben Lucarelli, Greg Strasser, Corporal Jeff Jarvis and ex-first aid Captain Wade Davis. (Photo by Kim Ambrose. Click to enlarge)
