KEENE, N.H. (MyKeeneNow) On Wednesday morning’s edition of Good Morning with Dan Mitchell on WKBK Radio, listeners heard a powerful discussion on the importance of CPR and automated external defibrillators (AEDs) as part of National CPR and AED Awareness Week.

The program featured three guests with firsthand knowledge of why every second counts in a cardiac emergency: Dr. Jim Suozzi, Deputy Fire Chief Gregory Seymour, and local cardiac arrest survivor Ed Tessier.

“I was very lucky to have a series of links in the chain that were not broken, starting with our daughter and her fiancé doing the initial bystander response,” Tessier said, recounting his sudden collapse at home in November 2024. His daughter, relying on CPR training from a Red Cross babysitting class she took over 20 years earlier, performed compressions for several minutes until EMS arrived.

Deputy Chief Seymour, who oversees Keene Fire Department’s EMS operations, joined the program to highlight how bystander CPR and AEDs improve survival rates. The majority of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests are fatal, but Seymour and Suozzi emphasized that immediate intervention can make all the difference.

“If the 911 operator was asking what’s going on, what are you observing? That second person was there to kind of feel those kind of questions,” Tessier added. “So having a second person there to assist the original responder is even more helpful.”

Dr. Suozzi, Associate Medical Director and EMS Medical Director for Dartmouth Health and Cheshire Medical Center, helped explain the medical difference between a heart attack and sudden cardiac arrest—and why chest compressions alone are now the standard.

Tessier also spoke about the outpouring of compassion he experienced from first responders and hospital staff. “Everybody in this process… didn’t care what my… political beliefs or my whatever. Everybody was kind, they knew what they needed to do, they didn’t ask any other questions, just gave of themselves.”

Listen to the full interview: