Warren Brown was just stopping by the RH Johnson Fitness Center on Oct. 5 to say goodbye to the monitors.

“A sweet old lady came out from the fitness area and said, ‘Please call 911. It’s a possible heart attack,’” Brown recalls. “In things like this, timing is everything.”

Timing. The right people, in the right place, at the right time.

Brown had retired from the Rec Centers a couple of weeks prior, and hadn’t gotten a chance to say goodbye to all of his coworkers. On the evening of Oct. 5, he stopped in to say his farewells – and ended up saving a life.

Upon hearing the alert of a possible heart attack, Brown rushed into the fitness center while monitor Teresa Panko was calling 911. She had just been alerted to the emergency as well by another man on a treadmill. Resident Tony Giralamo also jumped in to help.

“We were in the right place at the right time,” Giralamo said. “I was working out at fitness. I had come in a little later – by chance. I was in the stretching room, and I always keep the door open, and I heard someone say, ‘Call 911, there’s a possible heart attack.’ I hopped up and started heading over. There was another guy, who I’ve since found out was Warren.”

While Panko spoke with dispatch, Giralamo and Brown located the victim, slumped over in a recumbent bike and in obvious need of help. “He was already cold and blue, still on the seat with his feet still strapped in the pedals,” Brown said. “We got him down to the ground as best we could, and I started CPR while Tony went to get the AED.”

AEDs are automated external defibrillators – portable devices used to help people who are experiencing cardiac arrest. The Rec Centers has 53 of them deployed around its facilities, in strategic locations to help in such circumstances. Having worked at the Rec Centers, once at Kuentz and later at RH Johnson, Brown knew just where the AEDs were located. He also knew how to perform CPR.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve had to use CPR,” he said. “My daughter was 3½ when she (nearly) drowned. It was in a pool at a friend’s house during an event. The moms had gone in to eat and the dads were barbecuing, and my daughter slipped back into the pool without her ‘swimmies’ on. She was found floating in the pool, and I had to do CPR on her. … Ever since then, I’ve been interested in what to do if something bad happens.”

Brown’s daughter, Alexandra, is OK and all grown up now, but Brown remembers having to perform chest compressions and rescue breaths on her little body. “It brought back memories,” he said of the RH Johnson incident. “It would be nice if no one ever had a (medical) event where someone had to jump in and do this, but it happens.”

As it turns out, Giralamo also had some experience with lifesaving skills. In his former life as a police officer, he had used CPR, and as the current manager of the Auto Restoration Club, he has twice been through AED training.

With a bit of serendipity, Giralamo, Brown and Panko came together as the right team, in the right place, at the right time.

“We read the (AED) labels on where to put the adhesives,” Brown said. “From there, that thing is amazing. It tells you what to do. It really just tells you what to do!”

Giralamo agreed. “It’s very self-explanatory. You power up the machine and then it does its analysis. The machine said to stay back while it analyzed, and then it said stand back and administer a shock. It really does give quite a jolt.”

Brown added, “Based on the AED, we had to give him a couple of breaths. I think we bought the paramedics a few minutes. By the time they got there, we did get a few gasps out of him and a couple of grunts.”

Giralamo said it seemed like time slowed down. The AED went through at least two cycles of shocks. “I’m sure it was only a couple of minutes before paramedics arrived, but it seemed like 30 minutes had passed.”

Eric Kriwer, Assistant Chief of Operations/Wildlife with Arizona Fire and Medical Authority, said the call was dispatched at 7:01 p.m. The crew arrived 3 minutes and 53 seconds later. The National Fire Protection Association recommends a response time of 4 minutes.

As the medical crew took over, Giralamo and Brown gathered near Panko and gathered their thoughts.

“Timing is everything,” Giralamo said, thinking back to how this impromptu team came together at just the right moment. “I got started later than usual. I left the (ARC) shop late. I got home late. I thought, if I don’t go to the gym now, I won’t make it.

“I think if either Warren or I hadn’t been there, it still would have turned out ok, but you gotta work as a team. Otherwise, you’re running around trying to get the AED, or you need to stay on the phone – we could hear Teresa on the phone with dispatch.”

Panko also appreciates how circumstances brought “the right people at the right time.” That includes the “sweet little 93-year-old” lady who is a regular on the recumbent bike and was the first to glance over and notice the man was unresponsive.

“My daughter is a nurse practitioner in the ER, so she sees this every day,” Panko said. “She said, ‘Mom, the problem is that people are afraid to act. If these people hadn’t helped him so fast, he’d be gone.’”

Panko, Giralamo and Brown all credit the AED. “You gotta get that box. That box is really important,” Giralamo said. Then, reminiscing on how the events played out, he added, “It wasn’t his time. We were in the right place at the right time.”

Panko, who previously worked as a teacher, said she has had CPR and AED training, but will be sure to sign up for the next class “as a refresher.” “Always be ready,” she said. “You have to be ready for anything to happen.”

AFMA’s Kriwer said the actions of the residents and employee made the difference. “The Arizona Fire & Medical Authority would like to thank the Sun City West residents who quickly applied a publicly available AED unit to a citizen who suffered a major medical event on Oct. 5 to save a life at the RH Johnson Rec Center,” Kriwer said. “There is no doubt that the quick response of these citizens made a significant impact on our community and this individual.”

On Thursday, the Rec Centers and Arizona Fire and Medical Authority will celebrate these lifesavers during the RCSCW Governing Board’s regular meeting, which begins 9 a.m. in the Lecture Hall, 19803 R.H. Johnson Blvd.

To learn more about Arizona Fire & Medical Authority’s community AED training, or to schedule a class, call 623-544-5400.

SCW resident Tony Giralamo recounting how he and others were in the right place at the right time and were able to use CPR and an AED to save another residents life.