Woman survives heart attack at Honolulu airport after good Samaritans jump into action
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - A visitor from North Carolina is happy to be alive after she suffered a heart attack at the Honolulu airport.
Shirleen McDermott was about to board her flight out of the state on July 5 when she had a heart attack.
Two good Samaritans immediately sprang into action — one person performed CPR as a security guard ran to get the Automated External Defibrillator.
McDermott said without the help of those two people, she might not be here today.
“A mammoth thank you. I don’t know where to start to thank people like that — they’re guardian angels,” she said. “There are super people out there that really do care.”
The grandmother is the 60th person in Hawaii to be saved by an AED posted in public.
Since installing AEDs in 2006, there are now 255 life-saving devices in various locations across the state.
The company that installs them said AEDs can increase the chances of survival by 80%.
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