In what has been called the “longest, successful out-of-hospital resuscitation,” 20 different people all saved a man’s life by performing CPR for 96 minutes.
The miraculous incident took place in the tiny town of Goodhue, Minnesota back in 2011. Goodhue, which only has a population of about 1,000 people, doesn’t even have a traffic light. The emergency response team for the town is comprised of roughly 20 volunteers.
54-year-old Howard Snitzer received life-saving help from all of them when he was walking out of a grocery store and suddenly collapsed on the sidewalk from a massive heart attack.
As the grocery clerk called 911, the only other customer in the store rushed outside and started giving CPR. Several other people across the street overheard the commotion, and went to lend a hand.
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“He wasn’t breathing,” said Al Lodermeier, one of the good Samaritans. “He was in trouble and that’s when we started doing CPR.”
Al’s brother Roy also told ABC News: “We just lined up and when one guy had enough, the next guy jumped in. That’s how it went.”
It would take 96 minutes for a rescue helicopter from the Mayo Clinic to fly over and successfully resuscitate Snitzer – and over the course of that nerve-wracking hour and a half, 20 people all lined up in front of Snitzer so they could wait for their turn to take over the chest compressions.
10 days later, Snitzer had made a full recovery and was released from the hospital.
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Save Your Friends From Negativity: Click To Share The Inspiring Story With Your Friends – OR, (Photo by Mayo Clinic)