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A Quiet Workplace Heroism

Maria Henneberry

Fifteen minutes felt like 15 hours for a group of GROWMARK employees who found themselves in a situation no one would wish for, but they were thankful to be part of - once it was over.

It was an alarming incident that had an inspiring outcome.When Al Widick walks through the halls of GROWMARK in Bloomington where he’s worked as a manager for decades, everything looks a little better now, sweeter, precious. That’s because a few months ago during his normal mid-morning Monday routine Al went into cardiac arrest and collapsed.

"I don’t have a lot of, any memories of this honestly. It was, pardon the expression, a painless ordeal from my perspective now. I don’t know if I was in pain at the time," said Widick.

Ashley Garcia-Burns hadn’t been at work very long that morning, when she heard the unexpected.

"I heard a loud thud. I thought somebody probably dropped their coffee and I”m going to continue on with my day. I heard a very small voice say I think we need some help. I dropped everything and ran. I saw Al on the floor," said Garcia-Burns.

Colleague Jeff Gericke heard the same noise and went to investigate:

"Al was laying on the ground gasping for air. I could tell something was wrong. Choking? Seizure? I wasn’t thinking heart attack," said Gericke.

Garcia-Burns said time seems to slows down in moments like this.

"It seemed never ending, and that’s the day you put it into use. And you never expected; I hadn’t been CPR certified since high school but my mother was a nurse so I spent time in her classes. It instilled in my; do the pumps to staying alive, just keep doing them to stayin' alive," said Gericke.

Gericke said the whole experience turned into a procedural one. He had been through this type of situation with a child when he was a lifeguard many years prior. He knew what to do for Al.

"He stopped breathing and we started CPR protocol. Another colleague and I immediately started CPR," said Gericke.

The company nurse Devon Flammang said there’s a systematic aspect to these moment to make sure everything is happening as it should. She was glad to see by the time she arrived that that was already happening.

"We’re looking for level of conscious, moving, alert?  And we’re looking for breathing. Al was not responsive and was not breathing. So, evidently he need immediate CPR," said Flammang.

As instinctive as it was for employees to jump in and help, Garcia-Burns said there was a lot of uncertainty.

"When it comes time to use it, you question is now the right time to use it? Am I doing the right thing? Am I doing the chest compressions right? Is breathing right? And am I hurting or helping him?," said Garcia-Burns.  

Flammang said the chance of survival in moments like this is low, but you have to try.  You can’t give up.

"CPR training tells you have seconds. They were doing CPR. I was relieved when I came up to know he had a good chance given the dire situation," said Flammang.

Widick said he knows he was lucky for several reasons. He’d been taking hypertension medication for some time, actually having left a check up just days prior feeling good about his health.

"Had a doctor’s office visit to review results of the stress test 5 days before this event, couldn’t see anything wrong," said Widick.

Plus, Widick said his chance of being alone in any given moment at work or home is high. He’s fascinated it happened in a busy place.

"I collapsed in the right spot, by a vending machine, in a public area. I was getting soda. I still have it on my desk. I haven’t drank it. It's my little momento, other than this thing, the one I bought before I collapsed," said Widick.

Widick gestured to his chest to point out what is basically a new tiny personal defibrillator implanted to shock his heart should this happen again. Doctors say it was an electrical issue not a clogged artery.  

"If it happened once, it’s going to happen again. If I had bypass surgery I’d say we fixed something, repaired something. We didn’t do any of that, we just put a safety net there. Well going forward, just waiting for the other shoe to drop," said Widick.

The incident happened at 10 a.m. on a Monday morning in April.  Al remembers nothing from 7a.m. when he arrived to work that day until Thursday when he woke up at the hospital.  He had a couple broken ribs, sternum, and a new lease on life when he returned to work 3 weeks later.

"Some people get PTSD off this and I say how’s that happen? I don’t remember anything. But, the odd thing about it is, when I came back to work, my first feeling when I hit the door was dread, I don’t know why, just eh?" said Widick.

Flammang said seeing Al at work now is special in a powerful way.

"It’s rare and a positive outcome is also rare. You know that gives you more pride when you see what your actions did for him. You learn how heroic people can be; co-workers you pass in hallways every day, what they are capable of doing, and how people genuinely want to step in and help. It gives you peace to know there are people who are helpful you hope would step up and doing the same for you," said Flammang.

Reflecting on the experience, Ashley Garcia-Burns said don’t waste a moment overthinking it, because you can’t.

"I can see him walking around doing his job, laughing in the hallway, just joking around and that’s what I like to see. Just do it. Just do it. If you think you can do it, do it, because you can save someone’s life," said Garcia-Burns.

Employee Ann Kafer said it’s good to know priorities of the people around you are exactly where they need to be in moments like that. Despite your gut instinct that would be the case, there’s nothing like seeing happening in front of you exactly as it should.

"Al is a great guy and everybody knew that about AL. But when you see a life come back, wow! It’s just an incredible thing to know so many people had a part in that that day, Al, himself, all the people who pitched in, all the prayers, and support out there for his family as well," said Kafer.

Al Widick said it’s humbling to know his chance of survival was less than 10%.  He said day to day life is a bit sweeter, which says a lot, because everything was already sweet enough before.

"I’ve always been grateful, grateful to be here, just grateful to have another day," said Widick.

Accumulating another 34 years at GROWMARK might be unrealistic for the 63-year-old Widick. But he’s glad to at least get the chance to live out as many as he can in this place that has definitely become his second home. It's one he knows for sure has hallways full of real family.

Up until the day one of their employees had a near death experience, the company had two Automatic External Defibrillators, commonly known as AEDs.  Now, they have three.