One man’s nudge led to life-saving care for his coworker

Ken, the chief operating engineer lead, was part of the hospital family that rallied around Howard when his son died in a car crash in 2004. Twenty-one years later, a simple sentence from Ken may have saved Howard’s life.

“When I woke up that morning, I wasn’t feeling good,” said Howard. “I was getting coffee, getting ready for work, and I could feel something was going on. I thought I was going to call out, but I thought, ‘You know what? Maybe I should go in.’”

Howard thought that feeling of discomfort was heartburn, but it was disruptive enough that he complained about it to his team.

“He just kept talking about his pressure and burping,” Ken said.

After hours of waiting for relief that didn’t come, Howard decided to just go home and rest. What seemed like a good idea to Howard, set off alarm bells for Ken.“I said, ‘It’s still your chest?’ And he’s like, ‘yeah.’ I said, ‘No, you better go up.”

When Ken said ‘up,’ he was referring to the emergency department.

“It didn’t take much for him to talk me into it,” shared Howard. “I’ve never told him, but I was just going to pretend I was going to go there because I seriously thought I was fine.”

Howard was not fine. Unbeknownst to him, his heart wasn’t getting enough blood because there was a blockage in a blood vessel; he was having a heart attack. Although he has a history of diabetes, there had been no previous trouble with his heart, and to him, his symptoms did not fit the one he’d seen countless times on television.

“The classic symptoms of a heart attack are chest pain or pressure that can radiate to the left arm, jaw or back and may be associated with shortness of breath, cold sweats or nausea,” said Jonathan Urbach, MD, a cardiologist with Allina Health Minneapolis Heart Institute. “While chest discomfort is the most typical symptom, for some people symptoms can be different or more subtle. You should not hesitate to seek help right away if you think you might be having a heart attack.”

After more than four decades working at Unity and dozens of healthcare educational and compliance classes, Ken knew Howard had at least one of those symptoms of heart trouble. “It’s happened to a few guys who have worked here,” he shared with tears in his eyes. “With being here so long and a lot of the guys getting older, it all just comes to light.”

“Ultimately, in my mind, I believe wholeheartedly, Kenny saved Howard’s life that day,” said Hatti Carlson, facility and maintenance manager at Allina Health Mercy Hospital.“Who knows what would have happened if he’d gone home to rest.”

Howard was taken by ambulance to Allina Health Mercy Hospital’s Cardiac Cath Lab in Coon Rapids where the blockage was removed and stents installed to allow his blood to flow normallyto his heart.

Howard is back at work and grateful for his daughter and grandson, and he’s thankful to work with people who care enough to speak up when something doesn’t seem right.

“It's just...thank goodness he didn't think it was a small deal,” said Howard.