MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII, KANEOHE BAY, Hawaii -- “I wasn’t even supposed to be at work that day,” said the Mount Pleasant, Texas native. “It’s really ironic how everything ended up working out, it almost seems like I was meant to be there.”
Petty Officer 3rd Class Allen M. Elliott, a Navy hospital corpsman assigned to Waterfront Operations on Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, said he had always wanted to work in the medical field but had never thought he’d see a man’s life fading away before him, allowing him only moments to save him. This exact occurrence happened to him July 31.
“I was taking duty for a friend, so I was at the office that day, otherwise I wouldn’t have been there,” said the 22-year-old. “I suddenly heard BM3 Yenor shout for me and say that a man had collapsed.”
Sgt. Aurevoir R. Carbonell, garrison property control supply chief assigned to the Consolidated Material Support Center, Consolidated Logistic Division, Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, Calif., was in Hawaii visiting in-laws with his family when he collapsed on base, said Master Sgt. Thomas E. Burke, staff noncommissioned officer-in-charge, CMSC.
According to Burke, Carbonell was playing with his children when he suddenly passed out and went into cardiac arrest.
Elliott said that he ran out to where the incident happened, while Petty Officer 2nd Class Drake grabbed the medical kit in order to get it to Elliott as quickly as possible.
When Elliott reached the flagpole behind Waterfront Operations, he saw the man who had collapsed and noticed immediately that the man’s condition was life-threatening.
“I could see that, at first, he was giving agonal breaths, which means he would take a deep breath but since his heart wasn’t beating, it wasn’t doing anything,” said Elliott. “That was my first sign that he was going into cardiac arrest.”
Elliott said he immediately tried to feel for a pulse, but could find nothing. A woman on the scene was trying to perform CPR, but was not applying enough pressure during compressions to be successful, he explained.
“I could see that the compressions weren’t as deep as they should have been, so I took over,” said Elliott. “My medical kit wasn’t in reaching distance for me, so I was forced to perform mouth-to-mouth without the CPR mask.”
Elliott continued CPR for approximately six minutes before the ambulance arrived. Another man on the scene aided Elliot with compressions while Elliott performed the mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
When the ambulance arrived on scene, Elliott had been successful in gaining a pulse; however, Carbonell’s pulse died so the ambulance workers were forced to shock him with an Automated External Defibrillator.
“I honestly couldn’t believe that this all was happening for real,” said Elliott. “It seemed unreal with everyone crowding around, I knew I just had to keep calm though and do my job.”
Carbonell was again resuscitated, and is currently being treated in a local hospital. It is not yet determined when he will be released, said Burke.
Ironically, the following day, Elliott was scheduled to take a CPR instructor course, which would enable him to teach CPR courses.
“I don’t look at it as anything special,” said Elliott. “I just did what I’ve been trained to do. It’s just a part of the job.”