Becker Police Officer Jonathan Batterberry — along with Wright County Deputy Dusty Miller  — were honored Monday with starting life-saving measures on an elderly man who collapsed at the gym.

 

Batterberry, who says he works out at the Fitness Revolution in Sartell at least three-to-four times a week, just so happened to be at the gym Dec. 11 when he noticed a commotion back by the tennis bubble.

 

“I saw a person come up and get the manager and they ran into the dome,” said Batterberry. “I don’t know if it’s policeman’s instincts but I figured something was wrong so I went to check it out.”

 

Miller, who was working out in the same area, had the same instincts and he and Batterberry both arrived at the bubble to find a man laying on the ground in the middle of the tennis courts.

 

“I could see he was gasping for air,” said Batterberry, who saw the man, Ernie Kociemba on the floor with his three brothers knelt beside him. “When we approached, he stopped breathing and had no pulse. Right away he started turning purple in the face.”

 

One of the Kociemba boys held Ernie’s head back and cleared his airway while another got on the phone and called 911. Ernie was having a full cardiac arrest.

 

Immediately, Miller took over compressions from one of the brothers and Batterberry asked the manager to retrieve the AED — a portable electronic device that automatically diagnoses the life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias of ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia in a patient. The device is able to treat the patient through defibrillation, the application of electrical therapy which stops the arrhythmia, allowing the heart to reestablish an effective rhythm.

 

After Miller tired of administering CPR, Batterberry stepped in while Miller cut Kociemba’s shirt off and tendered the AED. Two Sartell police officers soon arrived after receiving the 911 call and it was at that time Kociemba revived and started breathing again.

 

“It was like he gasped for air and then he started asking right away where his brothers were,” said Batterberry.

 

The paramedics soon arrived and Batterberry and Miller advised the rescue crew and stepped out of the way. No longer needed, Miller and Batterberry returned to their workouts.

 

Last Monday, Batterberry and Miller were invited to the Sartell City Council meeting to receive life-saving awards and to meet Kociemba face-to-face. Kociemba, a deacon at the Church of St. Michael in Spring Hill, is sure Batterberry and Miller were “angels” and his rescue from death was a divine intervention.

 

“I had no symptoms leading up to the heart attack,” said Ernie. “I maybe had a little indigestion, but that was it. Thank God those young men were there at that time.”

 

Ernie, 58, and his brothers — Bruce, Bill and John — play tennis at least three-to-four times a month and Ernie is also an avid golfer. The doctors put in three stents and have given Kociemba 100% clearance to resume his active lifestyle.

 

“I’ll have to change my eating habits and lose some weight, but other than that, I’m good to go,” said Kociemba, who has a new outlet on life. “I’m so grateful to be okay and I owe it all to the life-saving efforts of all involved.”

 

Kociemba is married (Denise) and they have four children and one grandchild.

 

Batterberry is married (Aislynn) and they have a seven-month-old and a 12-year-old.

 

“I tell ya, being able to talk to Mr. Kociemba on Monday and to ask how he is doing and what he’s up to and stuff like that is so much more rewarding than getting a plaque,” Batterberry said. “Usually we don’t get to see victims following incidents so it was nice to see him doing well and to shake his hand.”

 

Kociemba is glad too.