Story by: Kevin Nevers of the Town of Chesterton
At 2:12 p.m. Nov. 4, the Chesterton Fire Department was dispatched to Precision Dental, 1140 S. Calumet Road, in response to a 911 call reporting “Card./Resp.Arrest.Death.”
The dispatcher’s grim note: “Assistant advised PT”—a 59-year-old male—“was not doing well.”
When firefighters and EMS arrived, however, the patient proved to be doing better than they had any reason to expect. As Fire Chief Eric Camel noted, “When crews arrived on the scene, the dentist and his staff were doing chest compressions, had oxygen on the patient, and had already administered one shock with AED. The patient’s vitals were checked and he was breathing.”
Nearly anywhere else—at home, in his car, at the Strack—the man, young enough to have many years still ahead of him, may well have succumbed where he fell. But in the office of Dr. John Balon, he had a fighting chance, because for years Balon has been preparing himself and his staff for worst-case scenarios. And on Nov. 4, when a man’s life hung by a single thin thread, Balon & Co. kept their wits about them, knew exactly what to do, and did it.
That man survived, has long since been released from hospital, and is now enjoying a second lease on life.
On Thursday, Jan. 6, Balon and his five assistants were honored in a ceremony at Precision Dental with the American Heart Association’s Heartsaver Hero Awards.
The Heartsaver Heroes: Dr. John Balon, Danielle Reynolds, Erin Schlax, Jennifer Schmidt, and Cami Newton.
The awards were presented by Heather Howell, formerly a Superior Ambulance paramedic working out of the CFD station, now an EMS educator at St. Mary’s Medical Center, the CFD’s sponsoring hospital.
As it happens, Howell and Balon go way back. “I personally, along with my family, have been a patient of Dr. Balon for the past 10 years,” Howell said at the Jan. 6 ceremony. “After I cracked my front tooth at a ball game on a very stale nacho chip, I called Dr. Balon’s office. At the time I worked at the Chesterton Fire Department as a paramedic and that thought of coming into work with half of my front tooth was horrifying. I explained all this over the phone, and without hesitation the staff told me to get to the office as quickly as I could.”
Over the years, Howell and Balon had occasion to talk a lot of shop, as fellow healthcare professionals. “And it seemed that during every conversation, Dr. Balon and his staff would always just have taken new training, whether it be CPR or a pediatrics class, or he’d have bought new equipment just in case he ever needed it. Once we had an entire conversation about oxygen cylinders. Dr. Balon isn’t just passionate about root canals or implants and a pretty smile. He’s passionate about people.”
So Howell was elated but hardly shocked when she was informed of the heroics at Precision Dental on Nov. 4. “When I received the phone call that Dr. Balon’s office had a patient go into cardiac arrest and, through his team’s efforts, not only was able to revive the patient but that the patient was alert and talking, I was not surprised. I know how much training, thought, and preparedness Dr. Balon had put in, if God forbid this day ever came. This bittersweet moment put both Dr. Balon, along with his team, and the patient together in the right place at the right time.”
“The Heartsaver Hero Award is our way of saying thank you for performing the heroic act of CPR, a critical link in our chain of survival,” Howell noted. “We want to recognize the heroes who have stepped in to save a life during an emergency. You have not only helped save a life within your community but you are also partnering with the American Heart Association to improve the survival rate of citizens who receive bystander CPR.” “We are very happy to have Dr. Balon’s patient with us today and wish him very well with his continued recovery,” Howell concluded. “I would personally like to congratulate Dr. Balon, Danielle, Erin, Jennifer, and Cami on a job well done!”
Read more about this heroic story at Precision Dental Center's Facebook page here.