UTU Local 426 Archived News.
11/18/06
BNSF
Workers Honored For Saving Comrade
PASCO, WA
-- Windle Todd and Brian Watson have worked for the railroad for
a combined 31 years. But it's what they did in the span of mere
minutes that earned their employer's praise and extended a
fellow worker's life.
Todd, 50,
and Watson, 24, didn't even know each other Oct19 as they worked
in opposite ends of a four-story brick tower in the BNSF Railway
Co. yard off Railroad Avenue in Pasco. Todd, a carpenter, was
painting, and Watson, a yard master, was in the conductor's
lounge when they both got word that someone had fallen over in a
chair.
Todd
didn't immediately realize the seriousness of the situation.
"I
thought it was a joke, but when I walked around the corner,
somebody was laying on the ground," he recalled.
The
unconscious man was Keith Wiles, 50, a locomotive engineer
working out of Spokane. About 10 workers were tending to him,
and when one asked if anyone knew CPR, Todd and Watson stepped
forward.
Todd had
received company-sponsored training in the life-saving technique
several times in recent years. Watson had learned it as a Boy
Scout, but his most recent training was four years ago.
Despite
the surreal moment, they responded on instinct.
"It was
the weirdest thing. You always feel for a pulse, and people
always have a pulse," Watson said, feeling the pulse in his own
wrist as he talked. "I checked for his pulse, and it wasn't
there."
Together,
Todd and Watson went to work on Wiles. Todd administered chest
compressions, and when he paused, Watson breathed into Wiles'
mouth. They kept going until Wiles started to respond.
An
automated external defibrillator was brought over but wasn't
needed. Paramedics soon arrived and took over.
Wiles
underwent triple-bypass surgery the following week and is
recovering in Vancouver, Wash., where he has moved with his
wife. He's expected to return to work in mid-December, said Jeep
Labberton, manager of the BNSF Pasco terminal.
Todd and
Watson, meanwhile, have learned to accept hero status among
their peers. On Thursday, their supervisors threw a steak lunch
in their honor at the Bridge & Building Department off East A
Street in Pasco.
After
they retold their story to about 25 engineering personnel,
Labberton reiterated the point.
"This guy
falls on the ground. He's not breathing, and there's no pulse.
Inside of 90 seconds, these two individuals here had his pulse
back and had a faint breathing started before they got the
oxygen on," Labberton told the assembled workers.
Their
quick action kept Wiles from suffering any damage to his brain
or his heart muscle, Labberton said.
"They not
only saved his life, they saved his quality of life," he added.
Todd was
presented with the American Heart Association's Heart Saver CPR
Certificate - available to anyone who receives the association's
training and uses it to save a life.
Lancene
Lamson, American Heart Association coordinator at the Kennewick
General Community Training Center, commended BNSF for the CPR
training it gives to employees. From January through October,
she and instructor Bobbi Sanders taught the skills to about 140
workers in the railroad's Northwest division.
"It does
save lives, as Windle showed," Lamson said.
Todd and
Watson said they had to find ways to deal with the shock of the
incident after it happened. Watson said he was shaky. Todd went
back to painting to keep himself occupied.
And a few
days later, as soon as he could schedule the appointment, Todd
visited his doctor for a checkup. -
Joe
Chapman, The Tri-City Herald