Cost of taking a cardio pulmonary resuscitation class: $20

Spending six hours with firefighters learning how to save a life: Priceless.

That is what it costs in time and money to possibly save the life of a friend, family member, or even a complete stranger.

If you doubt that, ask Chuck Howard and Sidney Eoff.

The two were in the billiards room of the Manteca Senior Center on Dec. 22 when Eoff suddenly collapsed while playing pool.

Howard rushed to his side, noticed he didn’t have a pulse and started administering CPR.

He kept doing so until the Manteca Fire Department arrived and crew members took over.

On Tuesday, both Howard and Eoff stood beside crew members from both the Manteca Fire Department and Manteca District Ambulance as Howard was recognized by the Manteca City Council for his heroic actions.

Howard – after receiving a certificate of recognition from Manteca Fire Chief Kirk Waters – was given a round of applause by those in the council chambers including more than 20 of Eoff’s family members some of who kept repeatedly saying “thank you” to Howard and emergency personnel.

“Most firefighters will tell you that the reason people survive a heart attack half the time is because someone has started CPR to keep them alive until they get there,” Waters said.

The fire chief used the occasion to promote the department’s CPR classes given the first Saturday of the month from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the classroom behind the Powers Avenue station. The cost is $20 for city residents and $30 for non-city residents.

Waters made several points including:

• when bystander CPR is initiated the patient has 3-4 times a greater chance for survival.

• statistics show that bystander CPR is performed less than 30% of the time.

• if everybody knew CPR and initiated it like Chuck Howard it would really make a difference.

• Howard’s quick action and performance of CPR was instrumental in Eoff’s survival. 

• it was an ideal situation for patient survival – bystander CPR was started immediately, fire personnel arrived on scene in 2.5 minutes with early defibrillation, the ambulance arrived a few minutes later and transported the patient to the hospital for advanced care. 

“Our fire crew did a fantastic job as well as crews from Manteca District Ambulance,” Waters said.  “We make a great team and work well together.”