Man's life saved on the golf course

CENTENNIAL - A Littleton man is grateful he remembered his CPR lessons from 38 years ago, and so is the man he saved.

Ken Bloese was golfing Sunday at the Southglenn Country Club in Centennial when he heard someone shouting from a nearby hole.

"I saw one guy was on the back side of the green lying down. I thought maybe he got hit by a ball," Bloese said.

Bloese ran over to help and noticed it was a golfer he'd seen on the course many times before, only not in this condition.

"He was just out. No heartbeat, not breathing. Just that blank stare," Bloese said.

The other golfer, Jim Quinn, was suffering a heart attack. No one knew what to do, except Bloese.

"I just immediately cleaned out his airway and made sure that was fine and started CPR," Bloese said.

Paramedics arrived, Quinn began breathing again and was rushed to Littleton Adventist Hospital.

"CPR classes for me were 37 or 38 years ago when I was a freshman in college," Bloese said.

A lot has changed since then.

In 2005, the American Heart Association issued new CPR guidelines, including 30 chest compressions for every 2 breaths given to an unconscious person.

That's twice as many as before.

Bloese can't remember exactly how many compressions he gave, but it worked.

"When the paramedics got there, that's when I think it finally hit me, whew," Bloese said.

Friends say Quinn is recovering nicely at the hospital.

October is sudden cardiac arrest awareness month. For more information, visit the American Heart Association.

To sign up for a CPR training course, visit the Denver chapter of the American Red Cross.