‘I was meant to be there:’ Derr meets the man whose life she saved
As a cardiac sonographer at Penn State Heart and Vascular Institute, Amy Derr works every day to detect patients’ heart problems. But it’s not every day that she actually gets to save someone who has a heart attack.
Derr had just stopped in the Giant Food Store in Mount Joy on Sept. 6 when she heard a loud commotion at the self-checkout station. She found 74-year-old Richard Mohr lying on the floor. The Marine veteran and father of three had suffered sudden cardiac arrest.
She began performing CPR and chest compressions with the help of Emily Hribick, a pediatric physical therapist. Another woman got the store’s automated external defibrillator (AED). Derr hooked him up to the AED and administered three shocks before he started breathing again.
Emergency responders arrived in five minutes and took Mohr to Lancaster General Hospital where doctors found 90% blockages in two of his coronary arteries. He received two stents and a pacemaker and was released after one week.
Derr credits the CPR training she takes every two months at Hershey Medical Center for teaching her the lifesaving skills. “I wasn’t even thinking. I just reacted,” she said. “If I had spent five more minutes anywhere else that day, I wouldn’t have been at the store when it happened. I truly felt like I was meant to be there.”
Giant Food Store managers organized a special ceremony on Oct. 5 to reunite Mohr with Derr and Kearia Ryan, a hospice nurse who also assisted in the rescue, along with Susquehanna Valley EMS, Mount Joy Borough Police Department and Mount Joy Fire Department.
“I’m honored and thankful to have had such a great outcome,” Derr said.
Derr isn’t the only Penn State Health employee who saved a life recently while off-duty. Read about Glenn Yeager, a surgical technologist at Hershey Medical Center.
Learn CPR
Penn State Resuscitation Sciences Training Center at Hershey Medical Center offers classes on CPR, AED and HeartSaver First Aid to Penn State Health employees and community members. See a list of upcoming classes at the training center or visit the American Heart Association website to find a class near you.
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