(The following article by Joe Chapman was posted on the Tri-Cities Herald website on November 17. Keith Wiles is a member of BLET Division 104 in Spokane, Wash.)
SPOKANE, Wash. — Windle Todd and Brian Watson have worked for the railroad for a combined 31 years. But it’s what they did in the span of mere minutes that earned their employer’s praise and extended a fellow worker’s life.
Todd, 50, and Watson, 24, didn’t even know each other Oct. 19 as they worked in opposite ends of a four-story brick tower in the BNSF Railway Co. yard off Railroad Avenue in Pasco. Todd, a carpenter, was painting, and Watson, a yard master, was in the conductor’s lounge when they both got word that someone had fallen over in a chair.
Todd didn’t immediately realize the seriousness of the situation.
“I thought it was a joke, but when I walked around the corner, somebody was laying on the ground,” he recalled.
The unconscious man was Keith Wiles, 50, a locomotive engineer working out of Spokane. About 10 workers were tending to him, and when one asked if anyone knew CPR, Todd and Watson stepped forward.
Todd had received company-sponsored training in the life-saving technique several times in recent years. Watson had learned it as a Boy Scout, but his most recent training was four years ago.
Despite the surreal moment, they responded on instinct.
“It was the weirdest thing. You always feel for a pulse, and people always have a pulse,” Watson said, feeling the pulse in his own wrist as he talked. “I checked for his pulse, and it wasn’t there.”
Together, Todd and Watson went to work on Wiles. Todd administered chest compressions, and when he paused, Watson breathed into Wiles’ mouth. They kept going until Wiles started to respond.
An automated external defibrillator was brought over but wasn’t needed. Paramedics soon arrived and took over.
Wiles underwent triple-bypass surgery the following week and is recovering in Vancouver, Wash., where he has moved with his wife. He’s expected to return to work in mid-December, said Jeep Labberton, manager of the BNSF Pasco terminal.
Todd and Watson, meanwhile, have learned to accept hero status among their peers. On Thursday, their supervisors threw a steak lunch in their honor at the Bridge & Building Department off East A Street in Pasco.
After they retold their story to about 25 engineering personnel, Labberton reiterated the point.
“This guy falls on the ground. He’s not breathing, and there’s no pulse. Inside of 90 seconds, these two individuals here had his pulse back and had a faint breathing started before they got the oxygen on,” Labberton told the assembled workers.
Their quick action kept Wiles from suffering any damage to his brain or his heart muscle, Labberton said.
“They not only saved his life, they saved his quality of life,” he added.
Todd was presented with the American Heart Association’s Heart Saver CPR Certificate – available to anyone who receives the association’s training and uses it to save a life.
Lancene Lamson, American Heart Association coordinator at the Kennewick General Community Training Center, commended BNSF for the CPR training it gives to employees. From January through October, she and instructor Bobbi Sanders taught the skills to about 140 workers in the railroad’s Northwest division.
“It does save lives, as Windle showed,” Lamson said.
Todd and Watson said they had to find ways to deal with the shock of the incident after it happened. Watson said he was shaky. Todd went back to painting to keep himself occupied.
And a few days later, as soon as he could schedule the appointment, Todd visited his doctor for a checkup.