By GENA JOHNSON
Special to The Oakland Press

Imagine being in a dark movie theater filled with people and, at a climatic point in the movie, hearing from the audience, “Are you all right? Can you hear me? Will someone call 911? Is there a doctor?”

That is what happened Sunday when Theodore Schreiber of Bloomfield Hills was enjoying the film “The Reader” with his wife, Michelle, at the Maple Art Theatre in Bloomfield Township.

“My wife turned to me and said, ‘Ted, go do something,’ ” said Schreiber, an interventional cardiologist and the vice president of cardiovascular development and division chief of clinical cardiology at the Detroit Medical Center. A professor of cardiology at Wayne State University Medical School, he founded the DMC’s Cardio Team One, a program designed to reduce heart attack response time by half.

A Bloomfield Hills woman had collapsed in the movie theater and was unresponsive.

Schreiber responded immediately. With assistance from other patrons, he moved the woman to the aisle and began CPR, compressing her chest.

“With rapid cardiac compressions, ventilation from mouth to mouth does not have to be done,” Schreiber said, explaining changes made to the 2005 American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care.

A sea of cell phones lit the theater and calls were made to 911. Within minutes, an EMS team arrived. Some patrons left, while most stayed calmly in their seats.

Maple Art Theatre management directed patrons to another auditorium to finish viewing the movie.

This was a unique situation for the theater and its management.

“This has never happened that I know of,” said Matthew Kelson, theater manager.

The woman who collapsed regained consciousness. Paramedics took her to Beaumont Hospital, where she was admitted and released the following day, said Robert Ortlieb, media relations coordinator for the hospital.

It was not a heart attack, but, according to Schreiber, the woman has a history of high blood pressure.

Although a cardiologist was present and CPR revived the woman, many in the medical community recommend there be an automatic external defibrillator on site in public places where large numbers of people gather.

“In public use, it saves lives,” said Marcos Daccarett, cardiac electro physiologist at Providence Hospital in Southfield.

According to the American Heart Association, there are 1.2 million new and recurrent coronary attacks each year. About 38 percent of people who experience a coronary attack in a given year die from it.

Comments

Laura wrote on Jan 7, 2009 8:11 AM:

future heart attack wrote on Jan 7, 2009 7:34 PM: