PACOM Sailor Rescues Elderly Man Using CPR

Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Robin Peak | Legalman 2nd Class James J. Downs, from Pocahontas, Ark., used cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to save the life of an elderly man who had collapsed at Saint Elizabeth Church in Aiea, Hawaii March 8, 2017. (Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Robin W. Peak)  

CAMP H.M. SMITH, HI, UNITED STATES

03.10.2017

Story by Petty Officer 2nd Class Robin Peak 

U.S. Indo-Pacific Command         

CAMP H.M. SMITH, HAWAII (March 8, 2017) – Legalman 2nd Class James J. Downs, from Pocahontas, Ark., used cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to save the life of an elderly man who had collapsed at Saint Elizabeth Church in Aiea, Hawaii March 5.

Downs, a paralegal at United States Pacific Command (PACOM), was sitting a few rows back on the opposite side of the church when he heard a commotion and saw a woman crying holding the elderly man’s body.

“I immediately recognized that the man was deceased,” said Downs.

He quickly ran to the where the man was and began assessing the situation.

“When I got to him, the people around him were saying, ‘he’s not breathing and we don’t think he has a pulse,’” said Downs. Emergency services had already been called.

He quickly took command of the situation and directed people to help him lay the man down and began checking for his vitals.

“I couldn’t indicate a pulse,” he said. “ I then put my ear down to his mouth to feel for breath or also see if his chest was rising and I wasn’t getting either.”

Downs instantly began to administer CPR by giving two emergency breaths and then starting chest compressions.

“After reassessing, I continued with the second round of compressions,” said Downs. “All of the sudden he let out this slow moan and his eyes shot open. “

With the help of some of the people in the congregation, he moved the man and laid him on his side. They propped his head up with some hymnals stacked on top of each other and some cushion; all the while Downs was talking to the man and keeping him alert.

“I started asking him some questions because I didn’t want him to lapse,” he said. “He told me his name was Greg and that he was eighty-three years old so I told him, ‘Mr. Greg you got seventeen more years to go. You’re too early.’” Downs responded that he could tell the man found that comment humorous.

He continued to assure the man the he would be okay and to remain calm until emergency response professionals were on scene.

Downs credits his ability to act decisively and effectively in this crisis to the continued CPR training he has received throughout his life and Navy career.

“The dividends of good training may be slow to yield but it paid out tremendously that day,” said Downs.

Those present at the church that morning, including the elderly man’s spouse, were deeply thankful of his immediate response to a situation that could have been fatal.

“He didn’t want any credit,” said Down’s wife Milrose, from Monterey, Calif. “Every time some one tried to thank him he said, ‘it wasn’t me, it was God.’”

“When it was all over, I knew that I just witnessed a miracle,” she said. “With the belief in God and the knowledge that you have, you never know when you’ll be put in the position to save someone’s life and that truly encompasses who James is.”

-Reporting by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Robin W. Peak

• Date Taken: 03.10.2017
• Date Posted: 03.10.2017 20:48
• Story ID: 226559
• Location: CAMP H.M. SMITH, HI, US
• Hometown: POCAHONTAS, AR, US