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Helping Others Heal: The Mighty Docs
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The Mighty Docs never expected to spring into their real-world roles until faced with a medical emergency in the midst of a game.
It had been a good night of hockey in Altoona, Wisconsin, with the rink filled with the sounds of steel blades on ice, stick taps and the crack of the puck off the boards. But in the second intermission of this recreation league game, everything changed.
One of the players collapsed as he rested on the bench between periods. He was having a heart attack.
This was not just any hockey community, though. Altoona happens to be home to a hockey club called the Mighty Docs. The charitable organization was formed by Mayo Clinic Health System doctors in Eau Claire, the northwest Wisconsin hub of the system.
When the player collapsed, emergency medical care was not far away. Two of his teammates jumped into action.
Donn D. Dexter, M.D., a neurologist, and Patrick L. Roberts, D.P.M., chair of the Division of Podiatry, both of whom practice at Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire, began CPR and defibrillation using the rink's automated external defibrillator. Police arriving on scene brought a second AED.
"I don't know if I was even thinking, to be honest," Dr. Dexter says. "You just kind of transition to clinical mode and trying to resuscitate the patient and get them back." Read the rest of the story.
