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Nearly four weeks after his triple-bypass open heart surgery, Ronnie Foster smiled and let out a warm laugh when the nurse increased the speed on the treadmill. As she reached over to check his heart rate and adjust the equipment’s settings again, she told him told that he has a strong heart and it’s getting stronger. Foster smiled again and increased his pace, taking it all in stride. He knows his heart is strong; he can feel it beating.
In February, Foster’s heart wasn’t doing so well. While on a bike ride with his family, it stopped, sending Foster into sudden cardiac arrest. He calls it the most frightening situation he and his family — including his 8- and 12-year-old sons — have ever experienced together.
“We were riding on the Carrollton GreenBelt,” said Foster. “My wife was riding out front and my two sons, Landon and Conner, were in the middle and I was in the back. We were just about finished with our ride when we came up through a wooded section by Carrollton High School. That is just about all I remember. I thank God that I had people around to help me and my family. If it wasn’t for them, I might not be here today.”
His wife, Angie Foster, was the first person to respond.
Angie said her family uses the GreenBelt frequently and she always makes sure that her husband and two boys stay safe and wear helmets and proper protection, but she said she was not prepared for a situation like cardiac arrest.
“When I heard him go down, I knew something was wrong,” said Angie. “I immediately threw my bike down and ran to him. I quickly realized that something serious was wrong because he was unconscious and barely breathing. I ran back to my bike to get my phone and call 911 and as I was dialing I saw a car coming. I started waving to flag down anybody who would help.”
While on the phone with the 911 operator, Angie flagged down Barbara Thomas, Revenue Integrity Coordinator at Tanner Health System, and her husband, Mike, a retired Carrollton Police officer.
“We were on our way back home from eating dinner and we saw her standing there on her telephone,” said Thomas. “We stopped and asked if she needed help and she said, ‘Yes, I think my husband is having a heart attack.’ We got out to check on him and I went over to console their two young boys. About that time two other ladies stopped and asked if they needed someone to do CPR. One of those ladies was in scrubs and said she was a nurse at Tanner. She came over and took control of the situation. It was like she was in an emergency room because she knew exactly what to do.”
The nurse, Jennifer Lassiter, RN, BSN, PCCN, works on the cardiac progressive care unit (CPCU) at Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton. For Lassiter, reacting to a heart problem is all in a day’s work.
“If she had not been there, that gentleman might not be here today,” said Thomas.
“I was coming into work and I decided to take a different route, and I don’t normally take that route,” said Lassiter. “I was behind a truck and I was wondering why they were slowing down. That’s when I saw a group of people standing over a body near the GreenBelt and I thought this couldn’t be real. Initially, I thought it was an emergency drill and the body on the ground was a mannequin. As I got closer, I quickly realized that it was not. I stopped, got out and asked if they needed help. When I got over there, the man was completely unresponsive, had no pulse and was not breathing.”
Lassiter ran over, started chest compressions and continued until emergency responders and paramedics arrived at the scene.
“I knew I had to keep doing chest compressions on him,” said Lassiter. “You can do chest compressions for as long as you need to. I was down there for about five minutes. Then responders got there with the AED and put him on the backboard. A couple of moments later is when I heard somebody say that they had a pulse.”
Foster said he is incredibly grateful to the people and emergency responders who stopped to help him and his family — especially the nurse who specializes in cardiac care, who happened to be in the right place at the right time.
Cardiac is Where Her Heart Is
Lassiter has been a nurse at Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton for nearly 20 years. For 10 of those years, she’s specialized in nursing on the cardiac unit at Tanner.
She got her first taste of the nursing profession right after high school while working as a nurse technician and never looked back. Since then, she’s earned certification from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses and she has gained experience in the emergency department and intensive care unit (ICU).
“I graduated nursing school in May 2000, and this is my 17th year as a nurse,” said Lassiter. “A month out of high school, I started as a nurse technician at Tanner. After that, I was an ICU nurse. Really, nursing is all I have ever done. I taught high school for about three or four years. I taught a healthcare science class and also worked on the cardiac unit at Tanner part time. Then I came back to Tanner to work full time.”
This was Lassiter’s first time performing CPR in the field as a nurse. Much earlier, at about 15, she had to perform CPR on her grandfather. But his situation was nothing like Foster’s, and that night on the GreenBelt was definitely a different experience for her and one she said she will never forget.
“When I got to the scene on the GreenBelt, everyone thought he was breathing, but really he was just gasping — what we call an agonal respiration — which is like the body’s last resort to try to get air,” said Lassiter. “I have been doing this for so long, I just jumped out and started doing what I know.”
She said she still often reflects on that night and how she helped Foster.
“It is one of those things where you look back and think, ‘I can’t believe I did that.’ I am glad he is OK now and I am glad I was there that night,” said Lassiter. “Now he might be able to ride bikes a little longer with his family.” 
Looking to Keep Living
Foster’s nurse bumps up the pace on his treadmill a little more. He’s in the John and Barbara Tanner Cardiac Rehab Center, on the top floor of the Tanner Heart and Vascular Center at Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton. On a clear day, heart patients can see clear to Blackjack Mountain during their workout, strengthening their hearts, planning to keep going.
Nurses monitor Foster’s heart rate, watching for any sign of concern. So far, so good.
The Fosters know it was a confluence of good fortune that helped him survive. In a letter shortly after the event, Angie wrote to Carrollton Police Chief Joel Richards to thank him and other first responders from the Carrollton Police Department, Carrollton Fire Department and West Georgia Ambulance, as well as the passers-by from Tanner who stopped to lend life-saving aid. One of the officers, Cpl. Kelly Bennett, checked in on the family after they arrived at Tanner’s emergency department, and told them he had loaded the family’s bikes and would return them to their residence.
“We are so thankful and thank God every day for putting all of these wonderful people at the right place at the right time to be able to assist us and help save my husband’s life,” she wrote. “We are so proud to live in a county that has some of the greatest first responders there are. We will forever be grateful to them and all the other wonderful people from our community that helped us in our time of need.”
Foster’s pace quickens to match the treadmill. His heart rate creeps up — and it keeps going.