Heartsaver AED

This Sunday, Sept. 23, 2007, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn will honor three Heartsaver Heroes � quick-thinking individuals who used an automated external defibrillator to save the life of Mike Culhane, of Hainesville, a kidney transplant recipient who suffered a heart attack in the Grayslake Central High School gym just last Sunday.

The three Heartsaver Heroes -- Jason Bullman, of Grayslake, a certified lifeguard and supervisor with the Vernon Hills Park District; Robert Hecker, of Lake in the Hills, a postal worker and retired U.S. Marine; and Rick Vigil, also of Lake in the Hills, a nurse at St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates � do not know now that Culhane will be on hand to thank them personally for saving his life.

�Last Sunday could have been the last day of Mike Culhane�s life,� said Quinn, who was joined by representatives of the American Red Cross and the American Heart Association in a news conference in the 15^th floor Blue Room of the James R. Thompson Center.

"Fortunately, Grayslake High School�s gym was equipped with an AED.When Mike Culhane had his heart attack, these three heroes had the presence of mind to put this lifesaving equipment to work and keep him alive until rescue personnel arrived.�

Culhane who plays basketball on the Illinois Transplant Team, won a gold medal in basketball and a bronze medal in swimming in the National Kidney Foundation�s 2006 U.S. Transplant Games. He was waiting to play a pick-up game of basketball when his heart stopped. Bullman, who plays basketball regularly during the school�s open gym time on Sunday nights, said that after Culhane collapsed, he saw Hecker and Vigil performing CPR on the stricken man. Bullman � who has trained lifeguards in AED use � ran to retrieve the device and then used it to keep Culhane�s heart beating.

Bullman, Hecker and Vigil �are my heroes, and I wouldn�t be alive without them,� Culhane said. �I thank God there was someone there who knew how to use the defibrillator. I owe my life to them. I�m very happy for the law that requires AEDs in the school gyms, and that Jason knew where it was.�

�Every two minutes, someone in our country experiences sudden cardiac arrest,� Quinn said.�In our state, the Colleen O�Sullivan law gives those people the best possible chance to get immediate life-saving help". In 2004, Quinn spearheaded passage of the Colleen O�Sullivan law, named after a young staff attorney for the Illinois House of Representatives who died of sudden cardiac arrest while exercising at her health club. The Colleen O�Sullivan law requires public schools, colleges and universities and park districts to install AEDs in all their physical fitness facilities. At Quinn�s urging, the Heartsaver AED Fund was created in 2005.