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Thanks to our Partner, NAPA Autotech Training and Pico Technology

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In this episode, Matt shares a personal Thanksgiving story that turned into a real medical emergency. A long-time family friend suddenly becomes unresponsive at the dinner table, and Matt walks through the moment he had to decide whether to act, despite not being “formally” current on CPR.

He talks candidly about what it felt like to drag her to the floor, check for breathing, make the call to start chest compressions, hear ribs crack—and then watch her come back. From there, he connects the experience to life in an automotive shop: CPR and first-aid readiness, AEDs, fire extinguishers, panic, freezing, and why “somebody will know what to do” is not a plan.

It’s a conversation about preparedness, stress, and how our greatest weapon really is the thought we choose when everything suddenly goes sideways.

Episode Highlights

Opening with the quote: “Our greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.”

Matt fighting a cold and joking about his “Nat King Cole” voice.

Thanksgiving at his parents’ house: Family and close friends gathered, including a 75-year-old family friend (“Jane”) who’s been part of the family’s holidays for years.

1. Jane says she’s really dizzy; Matt gets up to escort her to the living room.
2. Her chin suddenly drops to her chest, she becomes unresponsive, cold, and clammy.
3. The decision point:
4. Matt checks for airway, tries to feel for a pulse, listens for breathing—only hears gurgling.
5. Admits he doesn’t fully trust his own ability to feel a pulse with his heart pounding.
6. The mental calculus: If you can’t be sure, what else is there to do but chest compressions?

Starting chest compressions:

1. Dragging her to the floor and focusing completely on her while the rest of the room “disappears.”
2. Locking his elbows, using the beat of “Stayin’ Alive” as a guide.
3. First compression: feeling and hearing the sternum/ribs crack—and taking that as feedback that he’s at the right depth.
4. Before the second compression, her eyes fly open and she lets out a sound.

The immediate emotional whiplash:

1. First feeling isn’t relief, but anger and self-doubt: “Did I just overreact?” “Did I crack her ribs for nothing?” “Was this some dramatic hero move I didn’t need to make?”
2. Reorienting to the reality that she was unresponsive and now is awake, talking, and oriented.

EMS arrives:

1. Very low blood pressure at the house (around 70/40).
2. Hooked up to a 4-lead, showing atrial fibrillation with PVCs.
3. Matt nerds out on...