WRBL

Georgia sheriff’s office major reunited with hospital team who saved him

(Ken Faust reunited with Phoebe team)

ALBANY, Ga. (WRBL) – A Georgia law enforcement officer has been reunited with the team of healthcare workers and first responders who saved his life back in May of this year.

Three months ago on May 8, 2022, then Captain, now Major Ken Faust, with the Doughtery County Sheriff’s Office, suffered what experts described as a “major heart attack” at his home in Terrell County.

An EMS crew out of Terrell County responded to Faust’s home and rushed to the hospital.

According to hospital representatives with the Phoebe Healthcare System, where Faust was treated, when he arrived at their emergency room, he went into cardiac arrest. The team working to save him performed CPR for 45 minutes and shocked his heart with a defibrillator 70 times before they were able to take him to undergo a procedure to clear his blocked arteries.

On August 10, 2022, Faust was reunited with his life-savers at Phoebe, where he expressed his gratitude for the measures taken by the determined team to keep him alive.

“They could’ve stopped and said, ‘he’s not going to make it,’ but they didn’t,” Faust said earlier today. “They kept going, and they had belief that they could save me. That’s just an amazing thing to do for somebody.”

Earlier this year, the Heart and Vascular team at Phoebe began a new tradition to honor emergency responders and caregivers who go above and beyond in caring for patients with cardiac emergencies by presenting them with Challenge Coins. 

Wednesday morning, members of the team who cared for Faust were honored with the Challenge Coins, with Faust himself personally handing them out.

“God gave everybody talent, and he gave them so much talent,” said Faust. “They have a purpose, and God has a plan for them, and I appreciate everybody who touched me.”