Erlanger: Healing. Teaching. Leading.

It was an emotional reunion at Erlanger Medical Center when State Senator Bo Watson paid a visit to an 85-year old cardiac patient whose life he helped save a few days earlier at Fall Creek Falls State Park.

Sen. Watson was standing in line at the inn’s dining room July 6 when he saw a man collapse. The Hixson, Tenn. legislator, along with two nurses, quickly went into action, performing CPR on Dr. Alfred P. Rogers, a retired Chattanooga surgeon now living in Crossville, Tenn. When park rangers arrived with an Automated External Defibrillator (AED), Senator Watson and the others followed instructions until paramedics arrived on the scene. Dr. Rogers was successfully resuscitated and transported to Erlanger by LIFE FORCE air ambulance.

A few days later, after exchanging hugs and words of thanks and relief, Senator Watson told the Rogers family that he plans to reintroduce legislation next year that will expand the availability of AED’s in public places, particularly schools, churches, businesses and sporting venues. “The hero in all this is the AED,” the senator said of the portable device which provides electrical stimulation to restore the heart’s natural rhythm.

Dr. Rogers underwent bypass surgery at Erlanger on July 13 and was discharged less than a week later. “I was dead and these people saved me and brought me back,” the octogenarian said, adding that he also wanted to “thank LIFE FORCE and all the doctors and nurses at Erlanger for giving me the best possible care.”

During their reunion at Erlanger, Dr. Rogers told the Tennessee legislator he would do whatever the Senator asked to help the AED bill pass. “I owe somebody something,” he explained. “To go back to a lazy life is not fair to people.”

CLICK HERE to learn more about cardiology services at Erlanger.