Arno Grether
Two lives saved.
Arno Grether has a strong connection to the hospital, both as a donor and as a patient.
The road was deserted. They were miles from the nearest hospital and Arno Grether feared his friend, Jerry Spoelma — with him in the truck — had died. In fact, Jerry was still alive, but was having a heart attack. Arno was quick to respond. He drove to the nearest building and called out, asking someone to call 911. In the time it took for emergency services to arrive, Arno had also taken another important step to save Jerry’s life. “I’d had a heart problem myself, and had been living in a remote area, so I owned a defibrillator,” he says. “For some reason I still don’t understand, I’d slung
30 Elevate
it in the back of my truck that day and I was able to use it on Jerry.” After Jerry was airlifted to the nearest hospital, his prognosis did not look good, but he ultimately recovered and was able to return home to Southern California. If Arno had not been able to provide prompt help that day, things could well have ended in tragedy — and he now credits the lifesaving care he received at Huntington Hospital with saving two lives: his own and that of his friend. “Thanks to the care I got, I was around to help Jerry in his hour of need,” he says.
