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» HAS Newsroom
By Houston Airport System
June 21, 2006
There were more than routine discussions at this week’s Houston City Council meeting. In fact, there was a sentiment of heroism in the air as a group of William P. Hobby Airport employees shook the hand of the man whose life they saved just a few months ago.
In April of this year, Jim Hamilton was on his way to San Antonio from Houston when he collapsed at the entrance of Hobby Airport. The Guaranty Bank executive went into cardiac arrest and could have possibly lost his life had it not been for the quick actions of the airport employees.
Within a matter of seconds Gregory Wulfers, Arnoldo Romero and Josie Shakeel, all airport operations employees, were at Hamilton’s side ready to begin using an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) to resuscitate him. At that precise moment another airport employee, Michael Sutton happened to be reporting to work when he noticed the commotion.
Sutton is a Southwest Airlines employee and also a licensed paramedic.
The group immediately connected the AED to Hamilton and began to administer CPR. Shortly after, an emergency vehicle arrived and the passenger was transported to an area hospital where he underwent triple bypass surgery.
His saga was so extraordinary that the medical staff referred to him as the “miracle man”. Today, Hamilton is fully recovered and extremely grateful to the Hobby staff that saved his life. At the public hearing session of this week’s Houston City Council meeting Hamilton passed out trophies to the airport employees involved. His employer, Guaranty Bank, decided to payback the good deed as well.
Kevin Hanigan, senior executive vice president of Guaranty Bank, presented the City of Houston with a check for $20,000 for the purchase of additional defibrillators to be placed in public areas. He also pledged to donate 2007 trees to the city in honor of the airport employees.
“We were told at the hospital that when someone goes into full cardiac arrest 94 percent [of the time they] show up at the emergency room deceased,” Hanigan told the members of the city council, “Jim is definitely a lucky man.”
Hamilton’s current well-being can partially be attributed to the fact that the Houston Airport System and the Houston Fire Department have been working together since 2001 to ensure that no place within the airports’ terminals is further away than one and half minute from a defibrillator. All airport employees are also trained on how to use an AED and how to administer CPR.
For their part, the Houston City Council and Mayor Bill White honored the airport and its staff by declaring April 19th as Houston Airport Recognition Day.
Councilmember Michael Berry said, “It’s a special day today and a good reminder that while what we do around this table is important, what our men and women in uniform and what our City of Houston employees do really is about life and death and really does make a difference.”
However, Wulfers, Shakeel, Romero and Sutton felt somewhat overwhelmed by all the attention. Wulfers said, “Being recognized by the Mayor and the City Council was a true honor, but nothing compares to seeing the smile on Mr. Hamilton’s face and knowing that in some small way we were responsible for prolonging his life.”
Copyright © 2007 - Houston Airport System
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