Vance member saves woman's life

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. David Tomlinson
  • Public Affairs
Vance Air Force Base, Okla. --  It has been more than 20 years since Larry Smith was trained in CPR, but that did not stop him from using his training to save his neighbor's life.
Mr. Smith, Trend Western fuels storage leadman, was at his Enid home Sept. 3 when he was alerted to trouble in the neighborhood.
"My wife came running in and yelled that there was something wrong with a neighbor lady," Mr. Smith said, "so I ran over to her house."
Rosella Outhier, 88, was preparing dinner when she noticed something was burning.
"She was cooking on her kitchen stove and she had forgotten about it," said Mike Outhier, Computer Sciences Corporation environmental lab technician and Mrs. Outhier's son. "The pan overheated and filled the house with smoke."
Mrs. Outhier attempted to clear her home of smoke by taking the pan out through the back door to the garage and then doubling back to open the front door. After doing so, however, she collapsed. Fortunately a couple happened to be walking by and noticed smoke coming from Mrs. Outhier's front door. They ran to her aid and alerted the neighbors.
Mr. Smith arrived shortly thereafter and helped to move Mrs. Outhier out of the smoke-filled house. Thanks to his training, he knew exactly what to do.
"When we got her outside, she wasn't breathing and I couldn't feel a pulse," Mr. Smith said. "At that point, I yelled to call 911 and started giving her mouth-to-mouth."
He continued to administer CPR until emergency crews arrived on the scene several minutes later.
"I really thought she was dead, but I kept working with her," Mr. Smith said. "When the fire department got there, they put an oxygen mask on her and checked her pulse. Her pulse was reading 40 -- she started coming to then."
Mrs. Outhier was taken to a local hospital where she was treated and released that same evening. Needless to say, the Outhier family is very grateful to Mr. Smith for his quick action and persistence in administering CPR.
"A lot of people would have just called an ambulance and waited until it got there," Mr. Outhier said, "I'm just glad he took the action he did immediately ... Myself, my mom and my family owe Larry more than we could ever repay."
Mr. Outhier also notes this sort of event simply underscores the importance of being trained in CPR.
"It's very important," Mr. Outhier said. "You never know when something like this might happen and there's not always someone else around who can do it."
People interested in enrolling in a CPR certification class may call Richard Shepard at 6240. The free classes are held at 8:30 a.m. the first Tuesday of every month. The Red Cross also offers CPR classes at 9 a.m. every Wednesday and at 8:30 a.m. the second and fourth Saturday of each month. These classes cost no more than $40, depending on the type of certification. To enroll, call 237-5994.