A year after near-fatal heart attack, thankful patient returns to Kaiser Permanente

Standing before an audience of doctors, nurses and staff, Mark Aldrich began his story: “I died last year and these folks,” he said, gesturing to the conference room crowd, “saved my life.”

Aldrich, 44, had a major heart attack a July 21, 2014 after getting off a train at the Lawrence Caltrain station in Sunnyvale. He credits the swift action of a fellow train passenger who started CPR, Sunnyvale Public Safety teams, and the doctors and nurses at Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara where he was cared for.

Exactly one year later, Aldrich and his wife Amy came to the hospital for an anniversary event to thank his Kaiser Permanente caregivers. He didn’t meet and know many of them during his hospital stay, but on this day he wanted to thank them, too.

“I have no memory of the event,” said Aldrich, a tech lawyer in Silicon Valley. “Until I woke up in what I learned was the Kaiser Santa Clara Intensive Care Unit and a male nurse was calmly telling me where I was and that I had a heart attack. His voice was so calm and confident, he put me at ease and allowed me to be calm. From that moment, I knew I would be ok.”
While at the hospital, Aldridge was in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit, a specialty care unit for those who have suffered a heart attack, heavily sedated for five days. Kaiser Permanente’s Heart “Recovery” Team, as he calls them, worked to stabilize him and his heart.
Once he was conscious, Aldrich learned the details: He had collapsed at the Lawrence Caltrain station platform after getting off his train. A fellow passenger on the train, a woman who was a former Emergency Medical Tech, caught him as he fell. She recognized his symptoms and immediately started CPR.
“I was extremely fortunate because she never usually took that train to work, and just happened to be there,” Aldrich said.
He also learned that an unidentified man retrieved the AED (Automatic Electronic Defibrillator) from the Caltrain station, attached it to Aldrich, and took over CPR until the first responders arrived.
“I’ve never been able to track down and thank that one Good Samaritan with the AED,” Aldrich said. “Nobody could describe the man. Even more strange was that nobody saw where he came from and, when Public Safety arrived, nobody saw him leave. I still don’t know who he was,” he said.
As others have told him, the Sunnyvale Public Safety arrived in 3-and-a-half minutes, and continued with the CPR until Aldrich arrived at the Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Emergency Department team where a team of doctors, nurses, and techs continued working to keep his heart beating and restarting his breathing.
Clinical Nurse Educator Lora Glasgow was in the ED the day Aldrich was rushed in to the hospital. “We knew that he had been down for more than 30 minutes, so we worked quickly and decided to send Mark to the Cardiac Catheterization Lab, where another team of doctors, nurses, and techs was ready to re-open his heart arteries we determined were blocked.”
Glasgow accompanied the gurney carrying Mark to the Cath Lab. He received four stents to restore the heart’s blood supply. She continued to follow Mark’s case and checked in with his family when they arrived at the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit. It was Glasgow who helped coordinate Kaiser Permanente staff for Aldrich’s return visit, exactly one year after his heart attack.
“It was such a good outcome for Mark and somewhat life changing for our team here,” says Glasgow. “He told us he wanted to meet more of the talented and dedicated team who brought him through his heart attack. He said he wanted to make sure we knew how much we are appreciated.”
At the re-union, Dr. Joel Levis, Chief of the Emergency Department thanked Aldrich for sharing the story of his recovery with the hospital caregiving team.
“He looks great. His coming back shows us we’re doing the right things,” said Dr. Levis. “I believe our collaboration and teamwork made all the difference for Mark.”
“Imagine my ‘good fortune’ of suffering a major heart attack less than two miles from what I later learned was the best cardiac intervention team in the Bay Area,” said Aldrich.