Bristol nurse helps save a life

BY LAURA J. MONDUL

SPECIAL TO THE HERALD COURIER

When Lori Sauls, a licensed practical nurse with Bristol Medical Associates, agreed to fill in a shift at a Kingsport medical practice, she had no idea that she would be saving a life.

Aug. 25 seemed an ordinary day for Sauls, a Bristol native and nurse of 15 years. She had a couple of days off, because Dr. Steven Hanor, whom she normally worked with at his Bristol practice, was out of town doing mission work. So she agreed to pick up a shift at a Kingsport ob-gyn office, and was headed home after a normal day when she noticed a pick-up truck that had gone off the road and crashed into a tree. Though the damage was minor, Sauls pulled over to make sure everyone was OK. That’s when she learned what seemed to be a minor fender-bender was a life or death situation.

Another passerby, also a nurse, had stopped to check on the driver and informed Sauls that the driver had no pulse. Sauls immediately got out of her vehicle, and along with the other nurse and a  responding police officer, got the man out of the truck.

“He did not have a heartbeat, so we laid him in the road and I started chest compressions while the other nurse started ventilating,” Sauls said. “It felt like we did CPR for 30 minutes, but it really was only like five minutes before EMS got there.”

Upon arrival, the emergency crew found that the man had an irregular heartbeat and used a defibrillator to stabilize his condition. While the crew was working on him, Sauls found his wallet with identification.

“I just felt like personally I needed to know who he was,” Sauls said.

The man was transported to the emergency room at Holston Valley Medical Center where he was admitted. As it turned out, the patient had a 99 percent blockage in an artery.

Later in the evening, Sauls called the hospital to check on the patient’s condition, and when she returned to fill in another shift the next day, went to visit her accidental patient.

“That was the coolest part, was I got to meet him,” she said. “He told me he was actually driving to the ER with chest pains when he had the attack – it was so ironic that you could see the ER from where he wrecked. He kept thanking me, and I told him that God has a special plan for him, because he got a second chance at life. Not a lot of people get a second chance.”

Though Sauls’ everyday work does not involve performing emergency treatment, her coworkers say they are not surprised by her ability to step up to the plate and follow through.

“Lori is a very caring nurse,” said Joan Friede, office manager at Bristol Medical Associates. “She likes to see her patients are followed through with, and if her patients are admitted, she will go visit them.”

Friede also noted that Sauls had not even mentioned her role in saving the man’s life, and that it wasn’t until Friede received an e-mail from the Kingsport hospital inquiring about the “mystery nurse’s” identity that she learned of Sauls’ life-saving act.

Although this is only the second time Sauls has performed CPR, she said her actions were all in the line of duty.

“I think every person needs to know CPR – not just medical people but lay people as well,” she said. “You never know when you are going to need it. People wonder if they will be able to do it when the time comes, and you would. You don’t really think about it – it just comes to you.”

“She’s a great nurse,” Hanor said. “Luckily we haven’t had to do CPR on any of our patients here, but she proved that when it’s needed, she can do it and she can do it successfully.”

A mother of two children, Katelyn, 12, and Walker, 8, Sauls has very little time for much else besides being a mother and a nurse. She and her husband, Travis, with the help of the kids, raise animals on their mini-farm in Washington County, Va. Their pets include chickens, goats, guineas, rabbits and sheep, all of which the children help care for.

When they aren’t busy with the kids many extracurricular activities, the family enjoys vacationing and camping.

Though Sauls, who received her nursing training from the Neff Center in Abingdon, Va., said she would like to someday pursue her nursing degree, she is adamant that her children come first, and furthering her education will wait until her kids are grown. Until then, she said, she really enjoys her job and can’t imagine doing anything else.

“I’ve been a nurse all my life, I guess I’ll be a nurse the rest of my life,” she said. “I guess it’s just my calling. You always hope in the healthcare field that if the time comes, you will be able to do what you were taught, and you will have that happy ending. It kind of confirms that you are doing what you were meant to do.” 

Folks You Should Know is a regular feature on the people who make up the fabric of our community. To suggest someone for a folks feature, contact Assistant City Editor Christine Uthoff at cuthoff@bristolnews.com or (276) 645-2546.