Expecting a quiet shift, a gift shop clerk said she had the most intense day of her life when a man’s life was literally in her hands.
Just out of the hospital after a bout with asthma, Catherine Lein was anxious to get back to work at Frontier Fort Bar and Grill in Jamestown. She was still feeling weak but she had her nebulizer and it would be working just one day until the following week.
Pat John, a restaurant regular who enjoys Saturday dinners with his family, stopped by on Jan. 12 around 4 p.m., she said. Lein had left the first floor gift shop to help a server on the second floor bar and restaurant when John emerged from the wooden staircase and she greeted him.
Moments later there was a loud thud from the staircase.
“I thought it was our cook dropping something,” Lein said.
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John had passed out and fallen to the bottom of the staircase, she said.
“I didn’t know what to do at first,” Lein said.
After directing staff to call 911, Lein went to help John.
Lein, 32, had CPR training as a member of the diving team at Century High School in Bismarck. But that was years ago and she doubted her memory.
“I never really thought I would be in that position,” Lein said.
John, 56, was not breathing and he was turning purple, she said. Stutsman County Communications Center said an ambulance was coming and directed staff to move John off the stairs.
Lein thought of John and knew he had a wife and two daughters.
“The adrenaline kicked in,” she said. “Things began to come more naturally.”
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John was nonresponsive, she said. After stabilizing his neck she started chest compressions.
“As I am doing this I can feel myself not breathing,” Lein said.
Her fingertips were turning blue from a lack of oxygen, she said.
Sgt. Ryan Goff of the Jamestown Police Department was the first responder to the scene. He took over CPR from Lein, who held John’s head and put on his oxygen mask.
JPD officer Raymond Mosley arrived minutes later. There was still no pulse, he said.
“We checked once or twice for a pulse and by the third or fourth time we had one,” Mosley said.
Paramedics from Jamestown Area Ambulance arrived just after Mosley. John was transported to Jamestown Regional Medical Center.
Lein’s shift was over in less than an hour and she just wanted to go home and process the event. She called her mother and started to cry.
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“It was scary,” she said. “I am just glad that I was there and I am very grateful. It makes me look at life differently.”
On Saturday Lein said she was still feeling poorly and drove herself to JRMC. She was admitted for her asthma and released on Monday.
When John arrived at JRMC he was airlifted to Essentia Health in Fargo, according to Kay John, his wife. She made the drive to Fargo by herself, not knowing if Pat would be alive when she arrived.
“They said he’d be lucky to make the trip to Fargo,” Kay said.
Pat was transferred to a cardiology unit at CHI Sanford Health. He had no apparent cognitive effect from his heart stopping, Kay said. The doctors are crediting the CPR performed in those critical first minutes, she said.
“By all means they did save his life,” Kay said.
Pat also did not suffer any injuries from the fall, which was amazing, she said.
On Friday, Pat was back at home. He said the doctors are still trying to figure out what happened to him.
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“I feel fine,” Pat said.
When Kay and her daughters, Whitney and Hayley, learned that Lein was hospitalized herself they sent flowers.
“Flowers cannot begin to express our appreciation for what she did to save his life,” Kay said. “I have been busy in Fargo and I want to see her face and give her a bear hug.”
Lein said more servers and restaurant staff should be trained or certified with CPR and the Heimlich method to aid choking victims with abdominal thrusts.
“Then we are able to help when we can,” she said. “That is important to me now.”
Sheila Krapp, the emergency department manager for JRMC, said CPR training is beneficial. Even if a person isn’t trained, something is better than nothing, she said.
“The faster a person can start chest compressions, the greater the chance of saving someone’s life,” Krapp said.
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