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FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016
Lifesavers spring into action
Education Hill residents flock to Facebook to discuss neighborhood, city issues SAMANTHA PAK spak@redmond-reporter.com
Redmond Fire Chief Tommy Smith, left, speaks with Jason Kingsbury before recognizing and presenting medals to the individuals who saved Kingsbury’s life after he experienced a sudden cardiac arrest in September 2015. SAMANTHA PAK, Redmond Reporter
When Jason Kingsbury went into sudden cardiac arrest on a Redmond indoor soccer field, several people — including his wife — came to his rescue SAMANTHA PAK spak@redmond-reporter.com
Jason Kingsbury has been playing soccer all of his life — from the time he was a kid, to high school, to present day. On the evening of Sept. 7, 2015, the 45-year-old Redmond Ridge resident and others were playing at Arena Sports, an indoor soccer facility in Redmond. It was not unlike other evenings when he played soccer, but this time, after playing for a while, Kingsbury began to feel funny. He sat down on a bench on the side of the field before falling unconscious onto the ground. Kingsbury had gone into sudden cardiac arrest.
SPRINGING INTO ACTION
The people around him quickly took action, yelling for help, checking for a pulse as Kingsbury was turning blue and beginning CPR when they could not find one. “He looked terrible,” said Kingsbury’s wife Teresa Kingsbury, who plays on the same soccer team as
“This is a team effort. It means so much to us.” Redmond Fire Chief Tommy Smith
Jason and was there that evening. Teresa, who is CPR trained but had never had to use it, began chest compressions and their teammate Brian Funk performed mouth-tomouth resuscitation. Another teammate, Peter Jensen, called out for an automated external defibrillator (AED) and referee Jeff Bochner went to retrieve it. While this was happening, Cameron Fraser at the Arena Sports front desk called 911. As they waited for first responders to arrive, Bochner brought the AED to Funk, who had never used one before but looked at the directions on the machine to figure out what to do. “I was pretty scared,” he said. “I was scared of him dying.” While he may have been scared at the time, Funk is now able to joke a little bit while recounting that day’s events.
“He flailed,” Funk said with a small smile about Jason when he shocked him with the AED. Jason, who survived the event, returned the humor. “It was all a shock to me,” he said about having the AED used on him. “No pun intended.”
RECOGNIZING A TEAM EFFORT
Jason, Teresa, Funk and others shared their stories from that day Monday evening at Arena Sports, and Teresa and Funk were recognized and presented with CPR Gold Lifesaving medals from the Redmond Fire Department (RFD) for helping save Jason’s life. Others who assisted were also recognized. While Teresa and Funk were the only ones to receive medals, everyone — including Jason — received T-shirts from the Medic One Foundation, which funds paramedic training for all Medic One providers in King County, as well as many communities throughout the region. They also received a CPR [ LIFESAVERS page 7 ]
Throughout last year’s Redmond mayoral race, residents on Education Hill discussed the candidates and other local issues a fair amount on their neighborhood’s Facebook group page. As with many political debates and discussions, things became heated as people tried to get their points and opinions across to the larger group. After seeing how fired up some people became, a few members of the group decided to start a second Facebook group focused specifically on civic issues. This new group is called the Education Hill Neighborhood Association (EdHNA) and was created in late November 2015 following the election — although founders decided to wait until after the holiday season to really start things. Paige Norman, Janet Richards and James
Welker pleads guilty to first-degree attempted assault STAFF REPORT
Christine Welker pleaded guilty to first-degree attempted assault with a deadly-weapon enhancement last week, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney Office. The prison range is 81 to 104 months, and the agreed sentence recommendation is 104 months. Sentencing is scheduled
McDaniel are among the group that started EdHNA. They said the plan is for the new Facebook group to act as a bridge between residents and the City of Redmond. McDaniel, who has lived on Education Hill since 1990, said the information passing across that bridge will flow both ways. This means EdHNA will work to provide group members information on the latest issues affecting the city and their neighborhood specifically, as well as provide city officials and staff with feedback on the issues so they have a better idea of what residents are thinking. The three said EdNHA will act as a single voice, representing the neighborhood and sharing residents’ opinions with the city. Richards, who has lived on the hill since 1999, said as a group representing a neighborhood, their voice holds more weight than an [ more ED HILL page 8 ] for 2:45 p.m. Feb. 5 before Judge Johanna Bender in E-854 of the King County courthouse in Seattle. The Redmond woman was charged with assault in the first degree — domestic violence for reportedly stabbing her husband on the morning of April 28, 2014. At that time, she was 54 years old and her husband was 66 years old. King County Superior Court documents state that Welker pleaded not guilty to the charge at her arraignment on May 13, 2014. She was charged April 30, 2014 and is being held in King County Jail in Seattle, according to court documents and the prosecuting attorney’s press secretary.