At USA fleet member Fermi 2, when employee Harry Giles heard the station was going to offer first responder training, it piqued his interest.

Giles works in the Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation building, about as far from the site nurse as possible within the Protected Area.

“I told my boss that we are so far away from the nurse, it would be nice to have a first responder out here,” he said.

That was in February.

In early September , training became real life.

Giles and six other Fermi 2 employees — some of whom are also first responders — came to the aid of a truck driver who was on site delivering three rebuilt Control Rod Drive Mechanisms.

After the driver had removed the tie downs from the load, a worker heard the driver say “oh no.”

The driver fell, hitting his head on the edge of the trailer before hitting the concrete outside the Reactor Building bay doors. Giles and Security Officer Amy Despones rushed to the man.

“We rushed over,” Giles said. “He was lying on his stomach, unresponsive. We rolled him over and saw blood coming out of his forehead. His face and lips were blue-ish purple.”

Despones immediately called for medical help and back up officers.

“I tilted his head back to get his tongue out of his throat. I heard a couple of gasps of air but he was still unresponsive,” Giles said.

Tina Caswell, a RP technician, arrived at the scene and checked for a pulse. They couldn’t find one.
Meanwhile, two security officers — Dan Wakefield and Joe Thoma — arrived at the scene. They carried with them an oxygen mask and an automated external defibrillator, or AED.

At this point, the truck driver did not have a pulse and was not breathing, those at the scene said.
One officer gave the driver oxygen through the mask while another officer and Aaron Johnson, a Radwaste technician, started chest compressions. Bill Eisenmann, an Operator who is trained as a first responder, set up the AED.

Once the machine was operational and hooked up, it read “shock required.”

“They shocked his heart back into beating,” Giles said.

Those actions gave the man a fighting chance. An ambulance arrived minutes afterward and transported the man to the hospital. Though he had a subsequent heart attack, doctors successfully performed open-heart surgery bypassing one valve and putting a stint in another. He continues his recovery today.

Larry Demyanovich, a nurse at Fermi 2, said the actions by the group of Fermi 2 employees allowed the man to live.

“If they wouldn’t have showed up with the AED, if they didn’t respond as they did, he would not have made it out of here with a pulse,” he said. “That AED saved his life. It gives him a chance.

“It is a good thing this place has first responders.”

Fermi 2 Plant Manager Kent Scott said the employees deserve praise for their efforts.

“They did an incredible job,” he said. “They went above and beyond their job duties to help a man fight for his life.

“We talk a lot about putting the health and safety of people first,” Scott said. “The actions these employees took exemplify this most important core value.

“So, simply put: Thank you. Thank all of you for your quick, responsive actions.”

This group of Fermi 2 employees helped to save a man’s life on Monday who suffered from a medical condition just outside the Reactor Building. They are, from left, Harry Giles, Bill Eisenmann, Amy Despones, Aaron Johnson, Tina Caswell, Dan Wakefield and Joe Thoma.