Mary McCarty: One life saved, many more possible

Woman reunited with nurse who saved her life
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By Mary McCarty, Staff writer Updated 11:02 PM Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Stacie Oxman saved Wanda Gruenschlaeger’s life in fewer than five providential minutes at Paul Brown Stadium last fall.

The ripple effects from that chance encounter could last for many years — and could save many other lives.

Oxman has become a passionate and outspoken advocate for the importance of automatic external defibrillators in public places.

“Ninety percent of sudden cardiac arrests will prove fatal if you don’t get shocked within five minutes,” Oxman said Tuesday, May 19, before being honored as one of eight winners of the Dayton Daily News Salute to Nurses contest. “With an AED the survival rate goes up to 80 percent.”

Oxman is touched that Gruenschlaeger and her daughter, Connie Frost, nominated her for the award.

“But the fact that she is doing well is thank you enough,” she said. “Every time I think about it, my eyes well up. I have been crying for six months.”

Since the incident, the Xenia resident has spoken publicly about the need for defibrillators and even joined the Xenia Rotary after talking there. Now the chapter has launched a campaign to raise funds to purchase defibrillators for the community.

“It’s really a story of paying it forward,” she said.

Her life-changing journey began before a Bengals game on Nov. 16. Oxman stepped out of her bathroom stall around 12:15 p.m. and saw Gruenschlaeger lying on the ground, with Frost leaning over her and yelling, “Can somebody please help my Mom!”

“I’m a nurse,” Oxman said as she began to administer CPR. Her experience as an intensive care unit nurse at Good Samaritan Hospital taught Oxman to recognize the signs of cardiac arrest. “Get me a defibrillator!” Oxman called out.

It wasn’t until her second attempt that the AED did its job and shocked Gruenschlaeger’s heart back into a sinus rhythm.

“I was never so happy in my life to have a patient start to fight me,” Oxman recalled at the awards banquet.

The tears flowed before the awards banquet as she was reunited with Gruenschlaeger and Frost, both Hamilton residents. The women marveled over the serendipity that brought them together. Gruenschlaeger is a 25-year Bengals season ticket-holder; Oxman hadn’t been to a game in 20 years. A friend offered the tickets to her husband, nephrologist Mark Oxman.

“It really could not have gone better,” Gruenschlaeger said.

Another daughter, Nikki Hawk, presented the award, quipping, “Stacie is now a permanent member of our family, though, after she gets to know us a little better, she might think twice about that.”

Hawk said the voice called out “I’m a nurse!” and seemed to come out of nowhere: “Actually it came from the bathroom stall, and out came Super Stacie.”

In her remarks, Oxman urged her fellow nurses to continue to provide compassionate care despite the pressures and challenges of the current economy: “Keep doing what you’re doing. Take the time to hug a patient or talk to a patient.”

And remember: A nurse is never off-duty.

Not even at a Bengals game.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2209 or mmccarty@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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