Cardiac arrest survivor meets MTSU students, police who gave lifesaving care

Retired Middle Tennessee State University professor and Computer Science Department Chair Richard Detmer, seated center, and his wife, Carol, seated left, visit with four MTSU Recreation Center student workers, standing, who helped save his life when he experienced cardiac arrest while playing racquetball Jan. 19 with marketing professor Raj Srivastava, seated right. The students, from left, are Julia Rutledge, Jasmine Jackson, Andrew Scrugham and Gatlin Murr. Now recovered, Detmer, 78, and his wife brought cookies Feb. 9 to thank the students and MTSU Campus Police for their life-saving responses. The students had received American Red Cross training to use CPR and AED equipment. (MTSU photo by Andy Heidt)

It was a lifesaving reunion three weeks in the making.

Racquetball playing partners twice a week for 18 years at the Middle Tennessee State University Health, Wellness and Recreation Center, Richard Detmer and Raj Srivastava were in for quite a surprise as their final game wrapped up on Friday, Jan. 19.

Detmer, a retired MTSU Computer Science professor and department chair, collapsed.

Retired Middle Tennessee State University professor and Computer Science Department Chair Richard Detmer, right, shakes hands and exchanges greetings with Gatlin Murr Friday, Feb. 9, in a second-floor Health, Wellness and Recreation Center conference room, as Detmer’s wife, Carol, watches. Murr was one of four MTSU student workers at the center who responded quickly when Richard Detmer had a cardiac arrest while playing racquetball. (MTSU photo by Andy Heidt)

“While he was falling down, he was telling me he was fine,” said Srivastava, a Jones College of Business marketingprofessor. “Something in his eyes told me I needed to call for help.” Detmer was experiencing cardiac arrest.

Srivastava got Jack Morris, an aerospace student who happened to be outside the court, to immediately summon aid. MTSU students and Campus Recreation staff members Julia Rutledge, Gatlin Murr, Andrew Scrugham and Jasmine Jackson sprang into action.

“I was the first person in the room and called 2424 (MTSU Police dispatch) and for the AED (Automated External Defibrillator). We needed more help,” said Murr, a junior computer science major from Maryville, Tennessee. “We realized, ‘This is it.’ We cut his shirt open. Julia applied the AED and it advised to shock.”

Ray Wiley, MTSU Campus Rec assistant director — Ray Wiley

Campus Recreation Associate Director Ray Wiley credits the students’ quick calling to 911 and administering of CPR and the AED until Campus Police’s Angela Todd, a master police officer, and Patrol Lt. Walter Spain arrived as being critical to saving Detmer’s life before Murfreesboro Fire Rescue Department transported him to receive doctors’ care at Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital.

Unconscious most of the following weekend, Detmer, 78, survived and has fully recovered. Doctors implanted a small defibrillator in his upper chest before he was released.

Carol Detmer offers home-baked cookies to MTSU Campus Recreation Center student workers who helped save the life of her husband, Richard Detmer, second from right, during their visit to a second-floor conference room at Middle Tennessee State University’s Health, Wellness and Recreation Center Friday, Feb. 9. From left are Julia Rutledge, Jasmine Jackson, Andrew Scrugham, Gatlin Murr and Jones College of Business marketing professor Raj Srivastava, who was playing racquetball when Detmer had cardiac arrest Jan. 19. Detmer is a retired professor and Computer Science Department chair. (MTSU photo by Andy Heidt)

Three weeks later, Detmer, and his wife of 56 years, Carol Detmer, returned to the Rec Center to deliver cookies and thank some of those who helped save his life.

Plenty of hugs and thank-you’s were exchanged in the 45-minute gathering in a Rec Center second-floor classroom. All of the students told Detmer how good he looked and that it was great to see him again.

“I was very thankful,” said Detmer, who served as computer science chair from 1998-2010. “If you are eligible for CPR training, get it. It saves lives.”

Retired Middle Tennessee State University professor and Computer Science Department Chair Richard Detmer, right, visits with, from left, Gatlin Murr, Andrew Scrugham, Jasmine Jackson and Julia Rutledge — four Recreation Center student workers who helped save his life when he experienced cardiac arrest while playing racquetball Jan. 19. Now recovered, Detmer, 78, and his wife, Carol, brought cookies Friday, Feb. 9, to thank the students and MTSU Campus Police for their life-saving responses. The students had received American Red Cross training to use CPR and AED equipment. (MTSU photo by Andy Heidt)

Carol Detmer, left, receives a hug from Andrew Scrugham as Jasmine Jackson observes Friday, Feb. 9, in a Middle Tennessee State University Health, Wellness and Recreation Center second-floor conference room. Scrugham and Jackson were two of four Campus Recreation Center student workers who quickly responded when Richard Detmer experienced cardiac arrest while playing racquetball Jan. 19 in the rec center. The Detmers brought cookies to thank the students for helping save his life. (MTSU photo by Andy Heidt)

Wiley said it marks the third time in 20 years CPR and AED equipment have saved someone’s life in the rec center. “Once again, American Red Cross CPR/AED training has paid off,” he said. “Our students responded beautifully to save a life.”

Detmer, a Murfreesboro, Tennessee, resident, said he has not been given any restrictions for physical activity and hopes to return to the racquetball court soon.

“Doctors say this could have happened any place any time and had nothing to do with racquetball,” Detmer said. “I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.”

— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)