Sun Current Editions Bloomington/Richfield | Page 11

current.mnsun.com
Bloomington • Richfield
Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019 Page 11
Recalling CPR lessons, train operator saves a life
By LAURA BAENEN
Metro Transit Communications
Train operator and
Richfi eld resident Jim
Peach was moved to take a
CPR class 30 years ago af-
ter watching helplessly as a
fellow Northwest Airlines
mechanic died of a heart
attack at work.
The next time he saw
someone stricken when
he was on the job, Peach
knew what to do.
That time was the morn-
ing of Sept. 19, 2018.
When Peach pulled his
southbound Blue Line
train into the Cedar-Riv-
erside Station, he saw a
crowd around a man hav-
ing a seizure on the plat-
form.
From the Rail Control
Center, Rail Supervisor
Jim Clancy called 911 as
Peach and a bystander re-
moved the man’s backpack
to lay him on his back.
“I remember saying,
‘We’re losing him.’ He was
turning purple,” Peach
said.
Peach estimates he per-
formed about 10 chest com-
pressions before the man’s
color returned. Recalling
(SUBMITTED PHOTO)
Train operator and Richfi eld resident Jim Peach (left) and Rail Supervisor Jim Clancy (right) knew what
to do when they saw a man seizing on the rail platform this past September.
his training, he turned the
man on his side and asked
for his name. The man re-
sponded “Kyle.”
“That’s when my head
about exploded,” Peach
said. “It was great. I was
just, ‘My God, that just
worked.’ When I got up
and left, a lot of people
started clapping.”
In January, Peach was
recognized for having
taken action by the Met-
ropolitan Council’s Trans-
portation Committee. He
also earned admiration
from his colleagues.
“He likely saved that
man’s life,” said Clancy,
who watched the situation
unfold on cameras back at
the Rail Control Center.
Peach maintained his
composure long enough
to move the train to the
Franklin Avenue Station,
where he was already
scheduled for a break. Af-
ter leaving the train, he was
overcome with emotion.
“It was like a truck ran
over me because I didn’t
understand what my brain
and body had just done,”
Peach said. “I have never
felt like that. My body was
numb. Everybody tells me
it was the adrenaline.”
Peach had trouble sleep-
ing for a long time and
still wonders how Kyle is
doing, what his full name
is and would like to know
more about him.
If they could meet,
Peach said he’d like to tell
him about the man who in-
spired him to take a CPR
class.
His name was Gene, and
they worked in Northwest
Airlines’ machine shop at
the Minneapolis-St. Paul
International Airport.
“I felt really bad. A real
nice guy I worked with
died, and I couldn’t help
him,” Peach said.
Peach knows fi rsthand
the importance of saving
a life. As a baby, he was in
a house fi re Feb. 19, 1957.
An aunt and uncle rushed
him to a hospital.
“I was very badly
burned at 4 months old,
and it took me 61 years
and seven months to pay it
forward,” marveled Peach,
who at 62 still bears scars
from that fi re.
Registered nurse Alicia
Bravo, who works in the
emergency department at
Hennepin Healthcare and
is a CPR advocate for the
American Heart Associa-
tion, was amazed at what
Peach was able to do.
“He hadn’t taken a
course in 30 years, but
maybe he had been hear-
ing all these messages
since then about CPR and
that could have been with
him,” Bravo said. “He’s
very brave for having done
something.”
Where to learn CPR
Visit the American
Heart Association’s web-
site to fi nd out where and
when CPR classes are
available in your area.
Visit heart.org/en/cpr to
learn more.
A CPR kiosk can also be
found in the skyway level
of Hennepin Healthcare’s
Red Building, 730 South
8th St., Minneapolis. The
kiosk includes a manne-
quin that gives live feed-
back to compressions.
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS OFFER AND CALL 612.861.1186 TODAY TO SCHEDULE A VISIT!