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: Whitehall council approves $8.5M bond issuance Volume 3, Issue 23 October 31, 2025
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Part 2: Hearts to greater loyalty and hands to greater service By Sharon Hallack The Oceana Echo Community Correspondent
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This week The Oceana Echo shares the second article in its two-part series meant to recognize the heroic efforts of bystanders, to encourage others to become CPR-certified and to invite the community to get behind an effort to raise funds for an AED unit in every police cruiser in the county! According to the American Heart Association, a sudden onset of cardiac arrest is different from a heart attack. With a sudden cardiac arrest, the heart suddenly stops beating. The condition is usually caused by an electrical problem with the heart that makes it beat irregularly. When a cardiac arrest occurs, the person becomes unresponsive, stops breathing and becomes pulseless. Doing CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) right away can double or triple a person’s chances of survival, as it pumps needed blood to the brain, lungs and other vital organs. With a heart attack, symptoms can be sud-
den or take place over a period of hours or days. The heart usually keeps beating, but blood cannot get to part of the heart because a key blood vessel is blocked. If the problem is not cleared quickly, the part of the heart not getting enough blood can start to die. Here is another “heartwarming” story of how performing CPR on someone experiencing a cardiac arrest saved another life in Oceana County. It was a very warm night in July, while wrapping up a 4-H beef club meeting prior to the fair, when, for no apparent reason, 4-H mom and mother of five, Jodi (Hovey) Guikema, experienced a cardiac arrest. 4-H mom and registered nurse Heather Hallack remembers, “The moms had just gathered up and were discussing last-minute fair details when Jodi collapsed… literally at my feet. Another 4-H mom, Victoria (Walker), also a registered nurse, immediately called for Jodi’s husband, John. I dropped to my knees, looked right at Cory (Slotman), whose farm we were at, and told him to call 911. As I turned to start helping Jodi, I remember hoping she’d fallen, got kicked, or tripped - anything other than what, I knew from my past experience, had probably just happened. I checked for Jodi’s pulse, then immediately started chest compressions while Victoria started rescue breathing.” Walker and Hallack have almost 40 years of combined registered nursing between the two of them and literally worked side by side from 2008 to 2023. Hallack explained that in a hospital environment when a “code blue” is called, the scene, though chaotic, becomes a very controlled environment. “You have monitors on the patient. You have half a dozen medical personnel, supplies, medica-
John and Jodi Guikema tions at your disposal and with great detail,” Hallack a doctor at the foot of the said. “As the minutes bed. Every single person passed, multiple volunin the room has a role. teer first responders arTo be two nurses out in rived on scene to assist. the middle of a cow pas- Finally, 30 minutes from ture, with no equipment our first 911 call, Life EMS or support, was truly arrived. People need to humbling. All of our past realize we only have three knowledge and experi- designated ambulances ence had to kick in.” in Oceana County (1,300 Hallack said it was square miles). They are about 15 minutes be- responsible for serving fore the first emergency the county’s 27,000 resivehicle arrived, “God dents, plus the thousands bless Fred Hutson of the of visitors who visit OceaOceana County Sheriff na during the summer. I Department (OCSO)! He don’t fault anyone for it showed up with an AED taking 30 minutes to arand knew exactly what to rive. They aren’t just sitdo. We worked together, ting around waiting for a the three of us, just like a call, they may be transmachine, shock, CPR, re- porting a patient or taking peat.” a call on the other end of While Hallack and the county. It just goes to Walker were performing prove that in a rural area CPR, they were both la- we can’t solely rely on ser-focused and had no ambulances.” idea what everyone else With Life EMS on the was doing. But in the scene, Guikema was givhours following, as she en an advanced airway. debriefed with family and Hallack asked them, as friends, Hallack learned they were now in charge that every single person of the event, if they could there filled an important shock Jodi one more time. role. “It is common for “Then I asked for a pulse health care providers to check, and the most glodebrief after any signifi- rious thing happened — cant medical event, and I Jodi had a pulse! CPR was knew I needed to debrief no longer indicated! In as well. I found out one the medical field, we call of the moms had taken it ROSC, Return Of Sponthe little kids over the hill taneous Circulation. I call to the trampoline. Oth- it a miracle! er parents were making “There’s no doubt in phone calls and trouble- my mind the AED unit shooting. The older kids from the OCSO patrol car were moving vehicles and saved her life; and what directing traffic. When I a beautiful life Jodi has! asked my daughter Grace She's a wife, a mom, and what everyone was doing a strong, faithful woman while we were working who was able to go home on Jodi, she said, ‘If you to her family less than didn’t have a specific job, two weeks later,” Hallack you were praying.’ exclaimed. “It's a blur, but yet I “On the evening of can recall so many things July 28, I suffered from an
‘out of hospital ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation cardiac arrest,'” Jodi Guikema shared. “July 28 was a normal day; nothing felt out of the ordinary. I have since learned that cardiac arrest is different from a heart attack in this way. That day, God placed just the right people in my path to sustain my life. I received a defibrillator during my short hospital stay and have recently returned to work full-time. Having people who know CPR and/or have access to an AED, is critical for cardiac arrest victims, as there are no warnings that you are having a heart problem.” Currently, there are 18 OCSO road vehicles, but only eight are equipped with an AED. “In our rural area, we rely so heavily on our local law enforcement officers and volunteer first responders, we need them to have the equipment to help our community in situations like this one,” said Hallack. Hallack is currently campaigning to raise funds to purchase the remaining 10 AEDs needed. “Each unit costs $1,800, but when considering the lives that could be saved, they are worth every penny! I’ve given my children a challenge match. Whatever they donate out of their 4-H beef auction sale checks, I’ll match to-
ward the goal needed. So much of what 4-H stands for was on display that night. (The 4-H pledge states, “I pledge my head to clearer thinking, my heart to greater loyalty, my hands to larger service and my health to better living, for my club, my community, my country and my world.”) I’ve since learned that any 4-H member can receive a non-club point for completing CPR certification.” Hallack is partnering with multiple community organizations to share this compelling story and request donations toward the purchase of the 10 AEDs needed. For those interested in giving to this important campaign, an “AED Oceana County Sheriff Dept” fund has been established at the Shelby State Bank. Individuals or groups may make deposits directly to the bank or mail checks made out to “AED Oceana County Sheriff Dept,” in care of Heather Hallack, 362 N. 112th Ave., Hart Mich. 49420. If a digital option is preferred, or for other questions, please email hajhallack@icloud.com. For anyone interested in receiving training in CPR or taking a refresher course, please visit www. redcross.org to find a variety of training and recertification options.
Oceana County residents were treated to a spectuclar sight Thursday, Oct. 23 with a double rainbow after several days of rain • Amanda Dodge/Echo