Okotoks fireman Geoff Scott, left, and his partner Chris Brown. Scott saved a life on Feb. 2, 2019 … mine.

Originally published March 25, 2019

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

OKOTOKS, Alta. _ In most cities they measure response time in minutes.

In Okotoks, they count arrival time in seconds.

Geoff Scott of the Okotoks Fire Department arrived 90 seconds after the first 9-1-1 call on the night of Feb. 2. As guest speaker at the 11th annual Okotoks Dawgs banquet inside the Foothills Centennial Centre, I didn’t have a quality start.

A few minutes in, down I went. And this town of 28,000 responded quickly in life-saving fashion.

Dawgs’ photographer Angela Burger (Calgary, Alta.) was the first responder to arrive, then Dawgs’ athletic therapist Savannah Blakley (Okotoks, Alta.) began to work her CPR magic and next came bantam coach Lou Pote, defibrillator in hand, after racing to the back to retrieve one and bring it to the stage.

Angela zapped me back to life once and that’s when Scott arrived. He was at the rink next door watching his son, defenceman Caden Scott, carry the minor midget Okotoks Oilers to a 6-4 win over the Calgary-based NWCAA Stampeders.

Savannah Blakley & Angela Burger saved my life

Scott, 46, had walked outside the rink at game’s end when the call came. He made it to the stage to see that I was conscious and talking, although this I do not recall. I was beginning to fade and “coded” again, according to Scott: no pulse and no breathing.

Scott used the defibrillator again and I came back.

“I don’t mean to be brutal, but you were dead twice and you came back twice,” Scott said. “The trainer and the photographer saved your life. They had you hooked up to the defibrillator (which Pote retrieved). They deserve most of the credit, I just followed protocols.”

Sure. Easy protocol to follow: save this guy’s life even though his heart is not beating. Scott said he hooked me up to oxygen, but was too busy doing CPR to install an IV.

“When you woke up you started hollering,” Scott said. The defibrillator, which was near my head, gives voice instructions to people operating it.

Apparently when I woke up I yelled: “Will someone turn off that dang cell phone.”

“That’s when we knew you were OK,” Avery Buye Stodalka, told us in my room at Foothills Hospital in Calgary on Monday. Avery, along with husband Drew Stodalka, and I, had sat at the same table that night with Dawgs founding director John Ircandia, Hall of Fame inductee Terry McKaig and his wife Davina.

I asked Avery why she had left Saturday evening without even so much as a wave or a goodbye?

* * *

Also helpining out: Fireman Christopher Brown, 36, Scott’s partner, arrived a couple of minutes after Scott and set up the IV. In January. a defibrillator saved the live of a curler. And in February it was my turn.

Also responding were firemen Kyle Wright and Kim Houghton as well as Pat MacIsaac, Okotoks deputy fire chief.

“I’m thrilled to get a call,” Scott said when I tracked him down at the station. “Usually we don’t hear from a person,”

Pat MacIsaac, Okotoks deputy fire chief, explained to me that firemen have a saying how “time is muscle.”

“The longer a heart goes without oxygen, from the time someone collapses the tougher it is ... the chances of not surviving decrease about 10% every minute someone is out.”

Scott, Angela, Savannah and Pote made sure that my lack of breathing didn’t last for long.

The deal of the speaking engagement I was supposed to tell a few stories and pass on some wisdom -- not be responsible for having a grief counsel set up at the local high school on Monday.

“It was scary and then there was relief,” said Pote. “One of my son’s friends had questions. He asked a lot of questions: ‘Is he going to be OK? Players had questions.’”

* * *

And off you go: They loaded me into an ambulance from High River. I finally woke up for the first time since sitting on the chair.

Someone asked me a medical history question and I remember starting off “well, I think that would be in 1970 and then re-diagnosed in 1971.” I thought I saw someone rolling their eyes as in “Get to the point!” Yep, I was back.

I asked the man to my right, Cliff Lemoal, caring for me in the ambulance, if my heart was OK. He said it was stable. I asked “Well, why does my chest hurt?”

Karen Watson was to my left and Karen asked, “How many people were in that banquet hall?” I guessed the same as last year “either 400 or 500.” Watson said: “Well, I’m going to guess about nine people were jumping up and down on your chest.”

Kristen Northcott, who had arrived in her ambulance from Black Diamond, drove me to Foothills with coach Allan Cox riding shot up.

Later I asked fireman Scott how big he was. He said he was about six feet and around 195 pounds. I said “Well, that explains it, I know my pal Angela would not have injured me.”

On Monday at Foothills they told me I had cracked ribs “2-to-6.” I asked which side? The nurse said “both.” So, 10 smashed ribs, but as one doctor asked. “Have you considered the alternative?”

When he stopped laughing, Scott explained that cracked ribs are common when performing CPR. “You have to apply enough pressure to keep the blood pushing through your body,” Scott explained.

Lemoal asked if I was the guest speaker.

“No, not me,” I said.

Ten minutes later I said, “Ah, Cliff you were right. I was speaking when I went down.”

Defenceman Caden Scott, whose father saves lives for a living.

* * *

Move it, move it: Caden Scott is a stay at home defenceman, whose Okotoks team was eliminated when it ran into a red-hot goalie from Red Deer.

His favourite players are forward Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penquins and Calgary Flames’ left winger Johnny Gaudreau.

* * *

Hello Claire: After I went down the Dawgs coaches attempted to reach my wife, Claire. It was not easy.

The first call went to Clare Osborne, who pitched for me with the 1979 Ottawa-Nepean Canadians.

The next one went to award-winning journalist Claire Smith of ESPN and formerly the New York Times. The call lasted two minutes and 37 seconds and am sure it went something like this “Hi, I’m calling from with Dawgs, your husband collapsed on stage at our banquet.”

Claire: “I don’t have a husband.”

“Well aren’t you Bob Elliott’s wife?”

Claire: “No, but he’s been a friend since the 1980s.”

Eventually they dialed the number listed under HOME and found my wife, who flew out the next day.

* * *

Small world: On the Monday morning a woman stuck her head around the corner.

“Cousin Bobby?”

“Cousin Wendy?”

“You thought you could sneak into town without seeing me.”

“I’ve been coming for 10 years -- I expected to see you at the banquet.”

My wife spent three nights in a hotel before moving in with Wendy Bassarab, husband Capt. Scott and her doggies. Wendy worked in the building next to the wing of Foothills and was told by cousin King Whitney that I was hospitalized.

* * *

The diagnosis: The crack cardio team at Foothills told me that I either had a ventricular tachycardia or a ventricular fibrillation. They were not sure, but first “the plumbers had to do some work and then it would be the electrianss turn.”

We saw a bunch of doctors from the Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta and I apologize if I left anyone out but here goes: Dr. Bryan Har, clinical assistant professor; Dr. Andrew G. Howarth, assistant professor cardiac sciences; Dr. Paul J. E. Boiteau, professor, critical care medicine; Dr. Ravi Ramlal, cardiology fellow at University of Calgary; Dr. Dustin Johnson, clinical cardiac electrophysiology fellow University of Calgary; Dr. Satish Raj, professor of cardiac sciences at University of Calgary; Dr. Rob Thompsen, Dr. Mustapha Kazmi, clinical assistant professor and Dr. Grant Lloyd Peters, emergency room.

* * *

Trip No. 1: I had good vibes when I was told Dr. Bryan Har was performing the stent procedure -- even though I eventually found out it was not the son or any relation to Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame coach John Haar. Dr. Har explained to me that the stent was invented by a dentist.

It was supposed to be an hour on the table on Feb. 11, as they entered through my right wrist. It took 70 minutes as Dr. Har and his staff decided to put in a second one. Dr. Ravi Ramlal assisted along with Penny B, Shelley D, Donna G and Matt G. Thanks to one and all.

Someone told me I’d feel a burning sensation in my heart, or my heart might tingle at a certain juncture. I didn’t feel a thing. When it was over a nurse asked me how I felt.

“Like Carlos Delgado is warming up with a bat, pounding on my right wrist and the doughnut is still on the bat,” I said, due to the clamp on my wrist. That pain went away quickly.

* * *

Trip II: They were about to wheel me away to have my defibrillator inserted below my left shoulder blade. At the front of the bed was all-star nurse Zion. A red-haired woman porter whose name I never found was at the back. I asked if that was a red Canadian flag on her left wrist ... and since there so many Olympians in Calgary, if her sons had played for Canada.

With the stretcher on the move the woman leaned down and whispered, “They played for Canada, they fought for Canada and they kept us free.” At the elevator I apologized and told her how my Uncle Sam was a paratrooper on D-Day behind enemy lines and my Uncle King was in the RCAF. She showed me her tattoo but since I left my glasses in the room I couldn’t make it out.

The woman gave me her pink glasses and the tattoo came into focus. There were dog tags, initials and dates. The elevator arrived and they wheeled me in, the woman behind me and Zion in front. I began to sob uncontrollably.

Zion grabbed my toe, shook it and said, “Mr. Elliott you are going to be OK, don’t worry.” I gulped and said. “I’m not worried about myself, I’m was thinking about the lady behind us who lost her two sons.”

This was about a two-hour stay in the room, but I think I slept through half of it. Dr. Dustin Johnson, Dr. Satish Raj and Dr. Rob Thompson did the heavy lifting. Andrew, Kandice, Gerard and Brandon also assisted. Thanks to one and all.

* * *

First star: One doctor who was very helpful at explaining things was Dr. Tim Pollak, who attended University of Western Ontario. He wished us well being so far away from home. And said how he had mentored a doctor back east.

My wife, a former medical secretary, asked who?

“Dr. Mike Kates,” said Pollak.

My wife explained how we both knew Mike and Linda Kates, we’d been to their house for diner and they had been invited to Cooperstown in 2012 when I was honoured.

Dr. Kates and Linda are part of the Summerville Family Health Team in Mississauga.

* * *

All-star nurses: Every nurse we had were all-stars. Only time I didn’t like a visit was from a woman drawing blood. Being a fraidy cat (Ever since I saw my rough and tumble Kingston Frontenacs tough guy, Pete Lollar faint in grade 12 watching blood being drawn), I looked to my right as she worked on my left hand. And then she said “Whoops!”

Whoops can’t be good, but there was not a problem.

The all-star nurses included Zarah Munar, Alice Choo, Heather MacLean, Brenda, Minette, Lenora Riley, and Braden Paul (whose children went to school with cousin Wendy’s) in Unit 81, as well as Hall of Famer Jharna, Susan, Jiju, Daria, Bonnie and Joshua in intensive care, plus Amanda in emergency.

And not to forget Nurse’s Aid Christine Santos.

* * *

The leaders: Peter Gammons, the brilliant Boston Hall of Fame scribe who has the same enthusiasm as in the 1970s, was in the hospital for an extended time in 2006. The next time I saw him in person I asked him who had called him the most when he was hospitalized.

He laughed and said “Terry Ryan and Ozzie Guillen.” If you lined up baseball people based on their temperament, then Minnesota Twins general manager would be at one end for his calm, cool demeanor. Guillen then a fiery, combative manager of the Chicago White Sox who could loose his composure at the slightest slight, would be at the other end.

I bumped into Ryan and told him I’d heard his name and Guillen mentioned in the same sentence.

Not to put myself in Gammons’ league by any means, but someone asked me the same question: who called you the most? During my 23 days in Calgary (four days in intensive care at Foothills Hospital in Calgary, 12 on the eighth floor and five in a hotel) it would be a tie between Hall of Famer Pat Gillick and Baseball Canada’s Greg Hamilton (Ottawa, Ont.) even calling from Brazil.

Wyoming’s Tracy Ringolsby send out a daily email update to some scribes, scouts, general managers, managers and coaches. The next tier would include former Jays manager John Gibbons, Jays broadcaster Buck Martinez and Jerry Howarth, former voice of the Blue Jays. We heard from six GMs or former GMs and seven current or former managers.

Former Blue Jays president Paul Beeston phoned and asked if I wanted him to send Pierre-Karl Peledeau’s private jet out for the return trip. Peledeau loaned the jet seven years ago for my family and Bill Lankhof to fly from Pearson to Albany where we were picked up for the drive to Cooperstown and the J.G. Taylor Spink ceremonies.

Pirates manager Clint Hurdle, former Orioles skipper Buck Showalter and Rockies manager Buddy Black all emailed or texted best wishes.

* * *

Signifigant Words

“Health and family first then baseball, as they say in Italian, ‘piano piano va lontano’ i.e. It means slowly slowly goes the furthest ... Take care mon ami.”

_ Philadelphia Phillies scout Alex Agostino (St. Bruno, Que.).

“Hope you are resting well pal. Spoke to Bobby Jr. and Lesshiation (Alicia) keeping me up to speed. Don’t get jealous but my wife Miss Googley (Patricia is a big shooter with Google) et moi love the entire Elliott clan. Bobby Jr. and I share the same birth defect. We both have conjunctive sensitivitus. I looked it up on Wikipedia and it is characterized by an inability to form proper words when the hyper-developed tear ducts are in use. #hardlysensitive. I think Billy Courchaine has the same thing.”

_ Former Ottawa-Nepean Canadians LHP Michael Arundel, PIMCO Investments, Atlanta.

“Great to hear, however, I prefer to think of your transaction as you exercised your option from Foothills Hospital. Not a fan of the word RELEASED.”

_ Former Philadelphia Phillies C Gary Bennett, who play 13 years in the majors and was let go by the Phillies, Red Sox, Rockies, Padres, Brewers, Nationals, Cardinals and Dodgers.

“Hey there. Been following your travails ... hope you are feeling better every day and when you get out, they give you a 30-year warranty on all parts and labor. Think about you every day.”

_ Former GM Ned Colletti, Los Angeles Dodgers.

“Thinking about you! Wanted to let the dust settle before I reached out, as I’m sure you have had a lot going on since Saturday. John (Ircandia) has been filling me in, and I’m so happy to hear things are on the up and up! You’re a tough SOB and like most Canadians in baseball, you’ve got some solid grind in ya. So much respect for your fight. Looking forward to more banquets in the future.”

_ Okotoks Hall of Famer James Henderson, first Dawg to make the majors, former Brewers closer.

“Wishing you all the best in your recovery. You have our whole 1984 Olympic team pulling for your speedy return home and return to health. All the best.”

_ LHP Rod Heisler (Moose Jaw, Sask.), who wore Canada’s uniform in more international competitions than anyone else.

“Clive my main man ... this is your main man in Western New York sending you a lot of love and prayers from Buffalo.”

_ Don Gilbert, coach of the undefeated, untied College Bowl champion University of Ottawa Gee-Gees.

“You’ve got a truckload of positive thoughts from all your friends. And it’s working splendidly so far. As a HoF journalist I don’t have to remind you what Yeats said:

“Think where man’s glory begins and ends,

And say my glory was I had such friends.”

_ John Ircandia, founding director, Okotoks Dawgs.

Elliott: Lou Pote saved my life

“Just read your Lou Pote story, Bob - you had some incredible people step up to the plate on your behalf that night in Okotoks.”

_ Steve McAllister, former sports editor, Globe and Mail.

“We heard you were recovering in Alberta, how are you feeling? Hope all is well, I’ve learned so much from you and one of the best things you have taught me can be applied to this situation. All you have to do is remember to take it “Tranquilo.”

_ Gabriel Monterrey, Ontario Blue Jays.

“Tom Werner (Red Sox owner) can now get Bob a job in Hollywood as a stent man.”

_ Former Angels GM and Red Sox executive Mike Port.

“Not often in this game you get to email someone to say you’re glad they’ve been released ... Glad to hear you’ve been released from the hospital. Best wishes on a full recovery and good health for many years to come!”

_ Former London Badger Jamie Romak (London, Ont.) SK Wyverns.

“Get well, you’ve got a lot of people in your corner. Count me as one of them.

_ Cincinnati Reds 1B Joey Votto (Etobicoke, Ont.).

“Hey!!! Stop screwing around! Heard you had a little hiccup. Well ... maybe a big one. Wanted to send you a note that myself and Team Canada guys here in Brazil have all got you in our thoughts. Hope you feel better very quickly.

_ Larry Walker (Maple Ridge, BC) Hall of Fame candidate.

Words

“If you didn’t want to give the speech, you didn’t need to get a heart attack. Get better, then get your ass back to Alberta. Those people paid for seven hours of mumbled stammers, and damn it, you’re going to give it to them.”

_ Ray Ratto, San Francisco.

* * *

Good luck: to Larry Walker (Maple Ridge, BC) and LHP James Paxton (Ladner, BC), but when it comes to the most influential Canadians in baseball, we think Savannah Blakley, Angela Burger, Lou Pote and Geoff Scott certainly had an impressive start to the year.