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Posted August 13, 2014
Woman thanks ‘angels’ who ‘made a difference in someone’s life’
After joining in bystanders' efforts to revive a woman who suffered a heart attack in the parking lot at Costco, two Hale Makua employees were excited and relieved to hear she had survived.
"I was so happy," said Ruby Yadao. "That night I couldn't sleep thinking about her."
Yadao, who had gone to shop at the Kahului store, started cardiopulmonary resuscitation after seeing the woman on the ground in the parking lot the evening of May 21.
Hale Makua employees Ruby Yadao (left) and Erllie Cabacungan were among the bystanders who stepped up to help a woman who suffered a heart attack in the Costco parking lot May 21.
Co-worker Erllie Cabacungan was with family members in a vehicle entering the parking lot when she saw the woman grab onto the door of her car, then fall. She went to see if she could do anything to help Yadao.
"We could not sleep that night. All we did was think about her," Cabacungan said. "All we did was just hope and pray."
Off-duty firefighter Hans DuBach and an on-duty police officer with an automated external defibrillator also worked to revive Lori Cabacungan before medics arrived. She was transported by ambulance to Maui Memorial Medical Center, where she underwent quadruple bypass surgery. The 54-year-old Waikapu resident was hospitalized for about a week before being discharged and returning home.
Cabacungan, who has no memory of what happened until she awoke in the hospital after surgery, thanked the "angels" who came to her aid in an article published June 30 in The Maui News.
Yadao, who does CPR and defibrillator training as clinical development assistant at Hale Makua in Kahului, said she read the article and saw Cabacungan's photo, recognizing Cabacungan as the woman she had helped. She had been telling people what happened as proof of how knowing CPR can help in an emergency.
On May 21, Yadao had gone to Costco on a Wednesday, which isn't the day she usually shops there. She said she arrived to find another woman checking on Cabacungan, who was lying on her right side by her car.
Yadao said she started CPR and after performing the first few compressions, Cabacungan moved a little. After about a minute and a half, Yadao asked the other bystander if she could take over, which she did. The two took turns, doing CPR for three to five minutes before the police officer and DuBach arrived to help.
Yadao said she began to see a change in Cabacungan's color, then heard her sigh.
The police officer used the defibrillator to measure Cabacungan's heart rhythm and to deliver electrical shocks before firefighters, then medics arrived.
Erllie Cabacungan, who is not related to the heart attack victim, said she knew Yadao would help if she saw the woman. "That's our job here," said Cabacungan, who is maintenance equipment coordinator at Hale Makua. "We are trained to respond to any emergency situations, regardless of where you are."
"Somehow being the instructor rather than just CPR trained, you got to be more responsible," Yadao said. "You just do what you got to do.
"It makes me feel good. We made a difference in someone's life."
* Reproduced with permission from The Maui News. Story and photo by Lila Fujimoto.