Posted at: 07/27/2010 6:54 PM
By: Brianna Long
Print Story
Email to a FriendHonored for Saving a Life
(ABC 6 NEWS) -- Three Dodge County residents were honored Tuesday for their heroic efforts in saving a man's life last month.
Kim Thomas was having a strange day when she left her house one Sunday morning in June.
"I was headed back to Rochester to do some errands and it’s just so weird because I went back and changed my clothes," says Kim.
Then she backed out of the driveway, turning the wrong way, so she took a different route into town. At the same time, Dr. Ross Bailey, a vet at the carriage house animal hospital in Kasson, began his Sunday routine.
"I was out for my morning jog like I always am, virtually every morning of the year and just going down the road," says Dr. Bailey.
It was on a gravel road in the middle of the country, where there isn't even a house in sight, where Kim found Dr. Bailey taking that morning jog.
"When I got to him, it just didn't look right. And I just stopped to say, sir are you ok, and he collapsed right in front of me," says Kim.
He was having a heart attack. Kim called for help.
"He quit breathing during the 911 call and as soon as I was done talking to 911, initiated CPR until the deputy got there," says Kim.
Onawa Dostal took that 911 call.
"She was on County Road 15, but it's the part of the gravel road that directs off of that," says Dostal.
Eight minutes later, Deputy Scott Prins arrived.
"I jumped in and put the defibulater on," says Prins.
Their quick thinking that day earned them each a life-saving award from Dodge County; but more importantly, it saved Dr. Bailey's life.
"If she wouldn't have showed up, I'm sure I would have died in minutes from cardiac arrest," says Dr. Bailey.
"I just happened to be in the right spot at the right time," says Kim.
"Thank you to everybody that helped me out. I appreciate being here today," says Dr. Bailey.
Doctor Bailey was unconscious for five days after the incident. He is scheduled to have triple-bypass heart surgery next week.
