Man takes CPR lessons to heart
Heart attack survivor hopes to give back

BY R. NORMAN MOODY • FLORIDA TODAY • June 7, 2009


-- Cardiopulmonary resuscitation brought Paul Berner back to life.

"How do we give back for all that was done for me?" he asked.

By learning CPR to be prepared to help others who may need it, he said.

Berner and his wife, Kathy, and other family members joined about 130 people Saturday at The Training Center of Health First in Melbourne for a free one-hour CPR and automatic external defibrillator training session.

"On March 8, a Sunday, at Healthplex in Merritt Island, I died," he said.

That day, Berner, 66, was on a stair stepper at Pro Health and Fitness Center on Merritt Island. Nearby, Susan Weibert, a nurse manager at Holmes Regional Medical Center, was on a treadmill when Berner collapsed from a heart attack.

"She recognized what was happening," he said. "It was a very serious situation. It took three days to stabilize me."

Manny Shaw and Mike Newman, employees at the health and fitness center who are trained in CPR, also helped resuscitate Berner until paramedics arrived and took him to Cape Canaveral Hospital. Three days later, when he was stable enough, he was flown to Holmes and underwent bypass surgery.

Berner said he is alive today because of the dozens of people who worked on him, but that "the bottom line to it was the first five to six minutes."

"I'm here today because of them," he said of Weibert, Shaw and Newman. "They kept my heart beating."

Shortly before he and his family began the class Saturday, Berner, who appears physically fit, urged others to take a CPR course. He said he was in the "best shape of my life and the worst shape" when he suffered the heart attack. Though he had high cholesterol, he had no symptoms or signs of heart trouble.

Health First offered the free class Saturday. It has other classes available throughout the year. Classes generally cost $25 per person.

"It was excellent," said Nick Capone, 68, of Merritt Island, after he and his wife, Sis, took the course Saturday.

Now the couple wants others in their co-op complex to also learn CPR.

"It would be great for a team," Sis Capone said.