Posted on 05/22/2017
photo of survivors

LANCASTER, PA -- Pennsylvania sudden cardiac arrest survivors, family members, EMS leaders and other emergency care providers gathered in Lancaster, PA, on Saturday to celebrate new beginnings. The luncheon was sponsored by Penn Medicine, the PA Heart Rescue Project, and the PA Department of Health, in partnership with the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation. It was spearheaded by Ben Abella, MD, and David Buckler, NRP.

Speakers included Dr. Michael Reihart, Lancaster Hospital; State Rep. Keith Gillespie, 47th District, one of the state’s first paramedics; David Gaieski, MD, Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals; and Mary Newman, Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation. Newman encouraged meeting participants to join the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Network, an online community, to find information, peer support and opportunities to pay it forward.

Penne Marino, an emergency department nurse, along with two of her rescuers and co-workers, Eric Redcay and Jonathan Sanger, shared her story of survival. Penne has long wondered why she survived cardiac arrest and she recently found an answer: she is a perfect stem cell transplant donor for her sister, a leukemia patient.

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