12-year-old girl experiences
cardiac arrest, Stryker
employee responds

1-minute read

Florian Schanderl is head of a first responder unit in Munich, Germany, and one of Stryker’s senior sales representatives. Volunteers like him are part of the oldest first responder system in the region - Unterschleißheim Fire Department. They are on duty 24/7 and often arrive on scene up to six minutes before emergency services. 

On April 30, 2020 Florian took an emergency call regarding a 12-year-old girl suffering from a suspected seizure. He arrived on the scene three minutes later and saw the girl’s mother performing chest compressions and ventilations to her in the middle of their living room while the child was gasping.

“I was really surprised when I saw the mother performing CPR on the girl—that’s a
really rare event,” he said. “It was a great reaction from the mother
that she realized that her daughter had a critical problem and started CPR."

After quickly checking the girl’s vitals, he instructed the mother to continue chest compressions while he prepared the LIFEPAK CR2 AED which was available in his car. The AED analyzed the girl’s heart rhythm and advised a shock. While the shock was delivered, the second first responder arrived and continued CPR. They fitted the girl with an emergency ventilator and delivered two additional shocks before the ambulance and physician arrived on scene. Shortly after the third shock, she regained her pulse and was breathing normally. After that, the girl was transported to the hospital. ​​​​​​​

A few hours later, she was neurologically fully recovered. She received treatment and is now at home.

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