Heather Pforter had met the people she was with on Wednesday once before. But one was only over the phone, and she was too distracted by a heart attack to exchange pleasantries with the police and medics saving her life.
Pforter met them, again, on Wednesday at the Cortland fire station on Court Street, as the dispatcher who first understood she was having a heart attack was honored.
Cortland County Legislator Sandra Price (D-Harford, Virgil) presented Cortland County dispatcher Devin Short with a proclamation. Short “demonstrated exceptional professionalism, swift decision making and dedication.” He was calm under pressure, assessed the severity of the situation and provided timely communication.
Pforter called 911 on Dec. 13 worried she was having a heart attack. “I wasn’t feeling well all day, actually all week I wasn’t feeling well and missed some work,” Pforter said. She even left a Christmas party early because of how she felt.
“I took some Tylenol when I got home and as the evening went on, my arm started to really hurt and it went up into my jaw,” Pforter said. “I couldn’t breathe so I googled my symptoms and saw that I was probably having a heart attack.”
“She called and the first thing she told me was ‘I think I’m having a heart attack,’ and I got her address. I told her to unlock the door because she was by herself,” Short said. “That was the last call I expected this to happen, she was talking to me just normally like this, and I dispatched them and then she was no longer talking.”
“I went downstairs to unlock the door, and I don’t remember much else after that, I know I broke a tooth and I’m not sure how that happened, I must have fallen pretty hard,” Pforter said.
“I heard agonal respirations, deep breaths, when I was trying to ask her questions,” Short said. Those symptoms led Short to dispatch additional firefighters and medics.
The heart attack was a “widowmaker,” said paramedic Nick Casterline, a full blockage of the artery.
Evan Holl, a firefighter and paramedic, said the updates showed them how serious the situation was. “I told my captain, ‘Hey this is probably going to be legit, get the rest of everybody coming.’ We got on the scene, went in, and we trained really hard for this scenario.”
Holl helped with chest compressions. “Thank you for breaking my ribs,” Pforter said, although she laughed about it.
The automated external defibrillators that Cortland firefighters use uploaded the event to St. Joseph’s in Syracuse, so the doctors understood cardiac arrhythmia she was in on time as she arrived.
A second shock was delivered and medics made sure she was breathing on her own. Officials said they let the body settle for a moment before moving her because when a heart stops, toxins start to build in the lungs, and jostling during transport can put a patient back in cardiac arrest.
Pforter was in the hospital for three to four days. “I am back to work, I was cleared to go back on the 20th, they did say my heart muscles were working at about 35%. I start cardiac rehab next week,” she said. “I quit smoking immediately and I changed my diet.”
Short had been on the job for about nine months at the time of the call, but had been a dispatcher in Raleigh, North Carolina and worked for AMR of Central New York, which provides emergency medical services and transports patients to hospitals.
Short said this was the first time he got the chance to meet someone he helped save.
“It definitely means a lot because usually you don’t even get told that the person was safe, so it’s nice to get closure on that,” Short said. “The captain called me after the save, and I was very emotional that day as well. ‘Pat the tears’ is what I told my supervisor.”
“This doesn’t happen too often, we see a lot of calls but they’re usually not like this, so this is a huge deal that we can stand up here with you and say hello again and you do have some hometown heroes here,” said Cortland Police Officer Tyler Zacek, a trained EMT who helped provide care at the scene.
“I just want to say thank you so much for all responding so fast, I would not be here if it hadn’t been for all of you people,” Pforter said. “I just really really appreciate it.”
