Deaf Worker Goes Grocery Shopping... and Saves a Life--World Around You, Gallaudet University

M A R C H / A P R I L - 1 9 9 7

Deaf Worker Goes Grocery Shopping...
and Saves a Life

Dennis Gladhill went to the grocery store for Saturday shopping with his wife and children--and ended up saving a man's life.

"We were all in the store--my wife, two sons, and myself," remembered Gladhill. "My wife forgot to pick up the eggs, so I went back to get them. My youngest son was with me. He's only four years old and he was riding in the grocery cart. Suddenly I saw a man lying on the floor."

It was the coke delivery man. He had had a heart attack.

Gladhill and his wife, Kathy, were the first people at his side. Kathy Gladhill held the man's wrist and checked his pulse. There was none. The man's heart had stopped. Kathy Gladhill flashed her husband the information in sign language.

"I just jumped in," remembered Gladhill.

He bent over the fallen man and lifted his head. Soon two other men joined him. Together they administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), a rescue technique that Gladhill had learned at work. That means they breathed into the man's mouth to keep oxygen in his body and forced his heart to beat by repeated pressing on it from outside of his chest.

The manager appeared. Then paramedics, with ambulance lights flashing, arrived too. The paramedics took over CPR using special equipment, put the man into the ambulance and took him to the hospital.

Gladhill returned to grocery shopping with his family.

Aftermath: An Honored Hero
Later the store manager told Gladhill that the man survived. Once in the hospital he had an operation. Then he recovered and became strong enough to have Christmas dinner with his family.

Gladhill, a graduate of the Maryland School for the Deaf, was honored by the Emergency Medical Services Systems. He was awarded the Maryland Star of Life Citizen CPR Award.

"I learned CPR six or seven years ago," said Gladhill. "I wasn't nervous doing it--it really works. But I felt a little nervous afterward, and sad, too. When I learned that the man was better, I felt better. I could be happy again."

Gladhill is a sheetmetal worker for Zeigler Mechanical Electrical in Winchester, Virginia. He lives in Hagerstown, Maryland with his wife and three children.

General comments may be sent to: ISCS.ClercCenter@gallaudet.edu