While parents who are a doctor and nurse performed CPR, another parent ran across Losey Boulevard to Fire Station No. 3. Because of the availability of this defibrillator, I am able to stand here today. I feel like I've been given a second lease on life. At a press conference Tuesday, Woerpel said he would like to become a spokesman for agencies that promote having defibrillators in public settings. Onalaska High School got an on-site defibrillator weeks after Woerpel was treated.
Defibrillators deliver electrical shocks that can re-establish heart rhythm.
Woerpel, who recently returned to work, had a pacemaker and defibrillator fitted in his heart. I was just standing there talking. I got a little dizzy and went down. He remembers nothing between keeling over and gaining consciousness. The La Crosse Fire Department had its first defibrillators installed in 1994.