COUNTYWIDE : Heartstart Brings Clinically Dead Back

By the time county firefighters arrived at the car accident scene this week, Deral Kizer was clinically dead.

The Irvine engineer had suffered a heart attack while driving and careened out of control into a tree.

But thanks to a new device, Kizer was saved. The machine, called Heartstart 2000, tells firefighters arriving at the scene what to do.

Firefighters say the extra minutes were crucial for Kizer. When they arrived at MacArthur Boulevard and Main Street on Tuesday, “he wasn’t breathing,” said Orange County Fire Capt. Hank Raymond. “No pulse, no heartbeat, no nothing.”

As paramedics were driving to the site, firefighters pulled Kizer from the car and connected him to the device, which shocks the body to stimulate a heartbeat. It analyzed his condition, telling them that his heart had stopped. A computerized voice, offering commands such as “Begin CPR” and “Stand clear, stand clear,” guided the firefighters as they tried to revive Kizer. It worked.

He was taken to Health Care Medical Center in Tustin. He is in the intensive care unit, but his condition is expected to be upgraded today, Raymond said.

The accident happened on his 52nd birthday, which is also his 23rd wedding anniversary.

“Mr. Kizer died on his birthday and anniversary and was brought back to life,” Raymond said.

Kizer’s daughter, Tami Kizer, said her father is “progressing very well” but remembers nothing about the incident.

“He’s a lucky man,” she said.

In the past, firefighters would have had to wait several minutes for trained paramedics to arrive and use a defibrillator to revive a heart.

But the county Fire Department has 70 such devices that firefighters have been using for the past two months, Raymond said. So far, about 1,300 employees have been trained to use it, he said.

“It’s almost human,” Raymond said. “It’s almost like having a paramedic there.”