MIAMI (WSVN) - A heart attack survivor has been reunited with the first responders who helped save her life.
Jackie Yanes has a second shot at life thanks to paramedics after she suddenly went into cardiac arrest at work.
“Thanks to them, I am here alive and well,” said Jackie Yanes. “To reunite after five, six months of being here, I’m very grateful for everything.”
Last June, while finishing up a day at work, she suddenly felt sick.
“I called the doctor upstairs, which I didn’t know him or anything, and I called him and told him I didn’t feel well,” said Yanes.
Yanes said, shortly after the doctor was checking her out, she ended up having a heart attack.
“He did CPR, and seeing that I wasn’t responsive, 911 was called,” said Yanes.
Once firefighters showed up, they immediately took over and took her to the hospital, where she wound up in a coma for five days.
“In my case, if you’re in a hospital, it’s 20% survival rate,” said Yanes, “so I’m one of the 7%, so I was very lucky.”
Following her health scare, Yanes said the paramedics who saved her life visited the hospital to take pictures with her and see how she was doing.
“Very thankful for everything that they did,” said Yanes.
Fast-forward to the present. Yanes was surrounded by her life savers — laughing, crying and enjoying a nice meal.
“We take patients to the hospital, and that’s pretty much it,” said firefighter Alex Suarez. “Very seldom do we get to follow up and even less seldom do we get to see this kind of outcome.”
Paramedics said it’s important to learn CPR in situations like this because you never know the outcome, and the first response is the most important.
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