A Pasco County man remains in the hospital after he suffered a heart attack but he’s alive today thanks to his son and a calm 911 operator.
It’s the worst call you can ever make.
“He needs an ambulance right now he's passing," said Vince Hogan in a 911 recording.
This past Saturday 29-year-old Vince Hogan’s family was in a living nightmare. His 58-year-old father, Mercer Hogan, who has a heart condition, was seizing.
“He's turning blue and he's having a seizure," said Hogan in the recording.
Pasco County 911 operator Lauren Bertke was on the other end of the line.
“I’m going to give you instructions on how to help him, OK? Have someone take your mom out of the room if you need to," said Bertke in the recording.
"We established that he was not breathing at that point. So we had to take life saving measures and implement CPR," said Bertke.
Bertke said she was able to keep Hogan calm while she instructed him on what to do next.
"He's gurgling, he's gasping for air but he's not breathing steady," said Hogan in the recording. "OK, listen carefully I'm going to tell you how to do chest compressions,” responded Bertke.
"We have to maintain the control because if we had let the families emotions get involved and take over, the son would have never been able to administer the lifesaving CPR," said Bertke.
While you listen to the recording it almost sounds like Bertke is there with Hogan, counting the chest compressions together.
"One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four,” they said together.
You hear Hogan say, “Come on dad,” several times as Bertke tells him ‘good job’ and to ‘keep going’.
Hogan said he hadn’t taken CPR since he was in high school but with Bertke’s instructions it all came flooding back.
"He did a wonderful job, he stayed calm throughout the entire call and he was able to save his father's life," said Bertke.
Hogan said his family is thankful for the help of the dispatcher and the paramedic team. His father is recovering in the ICU at Bayfront in Dade City.