Heroes in our midst: Life saved at Bend grocery

Twenty-two minutes: That’s how long fire officials say Tim Grayson was ‘dead’ back on May 2.. It took five minutes for paramedics and Bend police to get to the Eastside Safeway. In the meantime, Tim was not without help.

“Looked the other way for just a second, and the next thing I knew we were both on the floor,” Grayson said Tuesday.

Lisa Nicholas jumped in to perform hands-only CPR after Tim literally collapsed on her while they were in line to make a bank deposit.

At their special reunion Tuesday, Grayson said he believes this was more than being in the right place at the right time; to him, Lisa’s presence was all a part of God’s plan.

“The first thing I remembered was lifting my hands to God and thanking him,” Grayson said.

Deschutes County 911 dispatchers talked Nicholas through the process until more help could arrive. Bend fire paramedics and police were able to get Grayson safely out of the store and rushed him to the hospital.

Today, he’s alive and healing. And on Tuesday, Tim and Lisa were brought together. With tears, and hugs, the two met for the first time.

“I’m very thankful to meet the person that saved my life,” Grayson said.

Nicholas said, “I really wanted to meet him and his family, to tell him that I’m very glad he’s still here. He’s got a lot of life left.”

Friends, family, and many officials gathered to honor everyone who was a part of this rescue. Lisa was presented with the Lifesaver Award by Bend Fire and Rescue.

They say, a cardiac arrest victim’s chances of survival go down 10-percent each minute. It usually takes seven minutes for responders to get to the scene. Despite these challenges, Bend has one of the highest cardiac arrest survival rates in the country.

Fire officials say hands-only CPR is helping boost the success for civilian-performed CPR.

“Start CPR within the first minute or two, the chances of survival goes up quite a bit,” said Bend Fire EMS Captain Drew Norris.

Speaking as a cardiac arrest survivor, Grayson encourages everyone to step in and help out someone in need of CPR regardless of experience.

“Don’t be afraid to jump in.” he said. “People tend to back away and say, I don’t want – I’m not good enough,’ or, ‘I can’t do that.

Nicholas said your adrenaline will kick in and help you perform.

“You just do it,. when you see something like that, and you know it needs to be done — you just react,” she said.

Bend Fire and Rescue says there’s an app you can use to help save someone’s life. It’s called ‘pulse-point’. This phone application will notify ‘anyone’ with the app of a nearby cardiac arrest called in to 911.The app only gives a location of a victim if they’re in a public place.