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'Guardian angel' saves man during cardiac arrest at gym

Off-duty nurse sprang into action
Posted at 6:00 PM, Aug 31, 2016
and last updated 2016-08-31 18:00:51-04

WEST CHESTER, Ohio -- A couple enjoying their "golden years" are calling a nurse their "guardian angel" after he quick thinking saved a man's life last week.

Sarah Helton, a nurse at West Chester Hospital, was wrapping up her workout at LA Fitness.

"But for some reason, instead of going to get ready, I think 'I'll just do this one more machine which took me to the front of the building," Helton said. "I was there for about maybe one minute when I heard a loud noise."

That loud noise was made by Jack Bernard. He had just finished a game of racquetball.

"I felt something coming on and I said, 'I'm going down.' And that's the last thing I remember," he said.

Bernard had suffered a cardiac arrest. He collapsed to the flood. Helton rushed over.

"Basically after he lost pulses and wasn't breathing, he turned blue," Helton said.

She performed CPR and shocked Bernard with an AED. He remembers coming to in the ambulance.

"If it weren't for Sarah and her knowledge of CPR and the availability of an AED at LA Fitness, I wouldn't be here," Bernard said.