DALLAS — A North Texas couple is teaching a unique approach to traditional CPR training after one of them nearly died while sitting on their couch.
"It was a totally normal Sunday," John Tabler said.
John and Lauren Tabler were winding down while watching TV when Lauren looked over to see John passed out on the couch.
"I didn't know exactly what had happened, but I knew something was not right," Lauren Tabler said. "Just that gut instinct. So, I immediately called 911, 911 helped me assess that he didn't have a pulse and wasn't breathing. I didn't know what to do. 911 is already on the way. They said you need to get him on the ground and start CPR,"
Lauren gave John CPR until paramedics arrived; paramedics shocked him back to life.
"How could something like this happen to us? He's young and healthy," Tabler said.
John spent a week in the ICU and had a full cognitive recovery. Tests revealed inflammation in his heart caused his cardiac arrest.
"It was just very, very surreal to wrap my mind around and physically, I felt very exhausted. But overall, ok, and then within about a week or so, I felt like I was back to feeling good again," John Tabler said.
But a physical reminder of that day is still strapped across his chest, an external defibrillator that will shock him back to life if his heart starts beating irregularly
He feels great physically but emotionally, the couple needed a positive way to channel the trauma of that day. As family and friends asked how to support the couple in the aftermath of John's heart attack, the couple had one message.
"We said if we have one call to action from all our friends and family, go take a CPR training course because the more that we learned, the more that we understood how that quick action CPR helped keep John alive and saved his life," Lauren Tabler said. "So, we said everyone just go learn."
John and Lauren went a step further, becoming certified CPR & AED trainers; then, they created their own program.
"We focus on things that we think are, are more relevant to people who are non-medical professionals and people who don't need a certification for their jobs," says John Tabler.
Their company, Vital Functions, offers classes in people’s homes and businesses.
"Our goal is to bring that in a way that is fun and relaxing, it feels like you're talking to your friends," says Lauren Tabler.
John and Lauren are extremely interactive with people who take their course; they get people on the floor and they encourage friendly competition with games all while asking plenty of questions.
Lauren says in her research, she discovered women are less likely to receive CPR from a bystander than a man. So, John and Lauren ensure people taking their classes practice on a female mannequin.
While the couple is trained to perform and teach all kinds of CPR, they focus on the hands-on component, since that is the form their students would most likely use in an emergency.
"Most people that are going to do CPR, it's going to be either in the home or somewhere away from the hospital where you don't have access to medical equipment, you might not feel comfortable putting your mouth on a stranger if that's where you're at. So, hands only (is) simple," Lauren Tabler said.
Simple to learn and remember in real-life situations like theirs.
To sign up for a class visit: www.vital-functions.com