One of the top officers with the Dougherty County Sheriff’s Office was reunited today with Phoebe Family members who saved his life three months ago. “God gave everybody talent, and he gave them so much talent.  They have a purpose, and God has a plan for them, and I appreciate everybody who touched me,” Maj. Ken Faust said.

On May 8, Faust suffered a major heart attack at his Terrell County home.  Thanks to equipment donated by the Phoebe Foundation, the Terrell County EMS crew who responded was able to electronically transmit real-time cardiac data to Phoebe’s main emergency center where the emergency cardiac team quickly gathered to await Maj. Faust’s arrival.

As soon as he got to the ER, Faust went into cardiac arrest.  The Phoebe team performed CPR for 45 minutes and shocked his heart with a defibrillator 70 times before they were able to take him to the catherization lab for a procedure to clear his blocked arteries. 

“They could’ve stopped and said, ‘he’s not going to make it,’ but they didn’t,” Faust today.  “They kept going, and they had belief that they could save me.  That’s just an amazing thing to do for somebody.”

Earlier this year, Phoebe’s Heart and Vascular team began a new tradition of honoring emergency responders and caregivers who go above and beyond in caring for patients with cardiac emergencies by presenting them with Challenge Coins.  Wednesday morning, they honored members of the emergency center team who cared for Faust, and he personally handed out the coins.

“That coin is a symbol of a relationship that I have with these people, but in my heart, it’s just a symbol,” an emotional Faust said.  “I remember everyone who was in that room that night.  I don’t know their names, but I remember them.  Hopefully, what they remember is that this guy should be dead, but he’s not.”

Faust returned to work only a few weeks after the heart attack that could have taken his life, and he was recently promoted from captain to major.  He said he feels great, and he was grateful to have the opportunity to thank the Phoebe care teams in person and present the ER staff with a memento he hopes they will value.  “Years from now, maybe they’ll see the coin and think, ‘I remember this guy.  We saved him.’”