A ‘thank you’ from the heart

Woman o ers gratitude to those who saved her life at courthouse

BY NINA JOSS

NJOSS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Shirley Bennett was going through the jury duty selection process at the Arapahoe County Courthouse when o cials called a recess. She and other potential jurors walked into the hallway.

“I remember walking outside (of the courtroom) and sitting on a bench,” Bennett said. “And I remember waking up four days later.”

Between the moments she remembers, Bennett, who is 69, went into cardiac arrest. anks to the rapid response of dozens of court deputies and other bystanders on scene that day, she is alive to tell the story.

On March 9, Bennett returned to the courthouse to express her gratitude to the rst responders who saved her life in February by performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

“I don’t know you all one by one or name by name, but I love you and appreciate you,” she said. “You’re in my prayers and you’re in my thoughts. I know we hear the prayers and thoughts thing so much with all the tragedy and things that happen. But I mean that from my heart — no pun intended — that I love you, I appreciate you.”

First responders

At the event, South Metro Fire Rescue recognized 19 Arapahoe County law enforcement o cers for their e orts in helping save Bennett’s life.

Sgt. Robert Chase, one of the rst people to arrive on the scene of the emergency, was among those recognized.

“It was clear that Shirley was having a pretty signi cant medical event,” he said. “(We) could tell right away — we assessed real quickly — that we needed to start CPR. So that’s what we did, and more people started showing up as well.”

Chase said the emergency happened during the courts’ lunch break, making it possible for many deputies, who otherwise would have been in trials, to respond to the scene.

Several o cers performed CPR on Bennett while others gathered witness statements and cleared pathways in preparation for South Metro Fire Rescue’s arrival. ey performed CPR for about 10 minutes before paramedics and emergency medical technicians arrived. Bennett had two more heart attacks that day, one in the ambulance and one at the hospital.

Early intervention

Jens Pietrzyk, division chief of emergency medical services at South Metro Fire Rescue, told the group at the March 9 event that his