TULSA, Okla. — Two Tulsa firefighters were working out inside Genesis Health Clubs in south Tulsa on Tuesday morning, when a man collapsed, stopped breathing and had no pulse.
“He ran and got the AED and that’s when I knew something was wrong,” said Eddie Garrett, Tulsa firefighter.
Garrett just graduated the fire academy and has been a Tulsa firefighter since August. Garrett has done CPR six or seven times on the job and on Tuesday, he jumped into action while off-duty.
Two off-duty Tulsa firefighters save man’s life at local gym.
“We started chest compressions, probably for a couple minutes and Ryan came running over,” said Garrett. “I was so thankful to see Ryan there, he took control of the situation.”
Lieutenant Ryan Beeler has been a Tulsa firefighter for about 13 years and says he’s done CPR hundreds of times, but Tuesday was the first time he’s done chest compressions off the clock.
Two off-duty Tulsa firefighters save man’s life at local gym.
“I guess you just kind of revert to what you do at your job all the time even if you’re not wearing a blue shirt you got to help out,” said Beeler.
Beeler and Garrett continued to do chest compressions and used the AED to deliver a shock to the man’s heart and eventually found a pulse as the man started breathing again.
“We were just so thankful, extremely thankful at that point,” said Garrett.
Melissa Beeler, Ryan’s wife, was also at the gym when the man collapsed.
“We were just at the gym working out, he had no idea this emergency was going to happen, but thank God he was there. It can just happen like that,” said Melissa.
Melissa says she has been in touch with a cousin of the man who collapsed on social media.
“She told me that the doctor told their family if it hadn’t been for Ryan and Eddie, he would not have survived. If they hadn’t done chest compressions and CPR immediately he would never have left the gym,” said Melissa.
Ryan and Garrett both say they did what any firefighter would do and also said this shows how critical CPR training is.