Pam Jones for Amy's GoRed Campaign Video Testimonials

Speaker: Pam Jones, Doodle and Brush Paint Bar

Pam Jones: Hi, my name's Pam Jones, and heart health matters to me because of an experience that I had where my sister went into cardiac arrest at my home, on October 10, 2024. Fortunately, my husband and I were home, and my husband is a nurse, and she went into cardiac arrest within 10 minutes of arriving to my home and was not feeling well. We were able to, She asked for, I'm sorry.. she asked for a drink of water, she asked for a cracker because she wasn't feeling the greatest. I got those and when I arrived back to the bedroom to give her a cracker, she had collapsed and was, and had gone into cardiac arrest, I screamed for my husband. He came running and we, we immediately began CPR and I called 911. Within about 15 minutes, the EMTs arrived. They were able to use the AED on her, but the AED flatlined 3 times, and, ultimately they were able to put the Lucas device on her to continue to give her CPR. I'm thankful for those two devices. I'm thankful for my husband who, both he and I did perform CPR on my sister, but, until the EMTs were able to get here, but she was without a heartbeat, heart pumping for 35 minutes before they were able to get her heartbeat back. What caused her cardiac arrest wasn't blocked arteries. It was due to a drop in her potassium. Something that I had no idea was I guess I had never been taught that, never learned that, but your potassium will send your heart, low potassium will send your heart possibly into V-fib. With that being said, thankfully, she survived, with minimal issues, and, she's doing very, very well today. She's home, living on her own, doing great things just like she always did prior to the incident. I'm grateful for the fact that my husband, being a nurse, knew exactly what to do. He's a hero in our family. I'm grateful to the EMTs and the devices that they were able to bring to my home, both the AED and the Lucas device, that ultimately, you know, was able to keep her heart pumping and save her life and their expertise and their skill and knowledge.

Pam Jones: One thing to know about heart disease is that it doesn't have to be from clogged arteries. It doesn't have to be from the lack of exercise or all of that. It can be as simple as your potassium levels plummeting, which ultimately is what caused my sister, who was 62 years old at the time, to go into cardiac arrest. Her potassium dropped and her heart went into Vfib, so essentially stopped beating. And just pay attention, get that blood work done, pay attention to those types of things.

Pam Jones: One small change women can make today for a healthier heart is make sure you get that blood work done when the doctor tells you to go get lab work. Get it done, pay attention to the results, and take action on those results.