Oregon man credits Honolulu airport’s AED system with saving his life

After a weeklong holiday in Hawaii, Lawrence Gill and his wife, Audrey, arrived at the Honolulu airport for their return flight to Oregon when he started feeling nauseated and seeing large black spots.

The next thing he remembers is waking up in a hospital.

The 71-year-old’s heart had stopped beating, and he went unconscious following a cardiac arrest. Three teachers from California immediately came to his aid, administering CPR and using an automated external defibrillator, or AED, to jump-start his heart before airport firefighters arrived.

The AEDs are on walls or free-standing racks with signs for public use.

Instead of his vacation ending in tragedy, Gill became the 35th cardiac survivor since the AED program started in Hawaii airports in December 2006. The survival rates for cardiac arrest cases at state airports is 62 percent — more than double the survival rate of other major international airports.

“I’ve never been through something like this. It’s amazing that it happened. In fact, it wasn’t until about a day afterwards that I finally realized myself that I could’ve died or I would’ve died,” Gill said. “It couldn’t have happened in a better place. It’s a miracle.”

Gill and his wife were able to thank the three women over the phone during a news conference Friday at the state Department of Transportation’s airport headquarters.

“He fell flat on his face, and three wonderful women came out of nowhere and immediately started CPR. They shocked him at least four times. Then the women just disappeared,” Audrey said. “I didn’t have a chance to thank them. They were like angels that came and left. Somebody upstairs was really watching over us.”

“I want to thank you with all my heart,” Gill said.

One of the teachers, Cassandra Turner, said, “My heart is overjoyed right now to know that you’re OK. I am so pleased to hear your voice. We were just at the right place at the right time. I believe that God sent you (to us).”

There are 220 AEDs statewide, with 150 stationed around the airports for the public to use in an emergency, including 76 in Honolulu, according to the DOT, which has trained more than 1,000 airport workers on how to use the machines.

“Airports all have fire departments, but it still takes them two or three minutes (to get there),” said airport medical director Dr. James Ireland. “That’s what saves people — getting CPR right away. We rely on Samaritans, the public and people who have the training. They call it a chain of survival. It’s not just one piece; you need them all. I love happy endings.”

Hawaii has roughly 900 cardiac arrests a year, but survival rates are best with immediate CPR and AEDs. For more information about training, call the American Red Cross at 734-2101 or the AED Institute of America at 440-8988.