OMAHA, Neb. – Sgt. 1st Class John Fairbanks is an accessions career counselor for the Army Reserve, a competitive cyclist –and a heart transplant recipient. Fairbanks was attacked in April 2005 by a very severe heart attack called the “Widow Maker.”

This type of heart attack occurs when a critical artery that feeds blood to the heart becomes blocked. Doctors were unable to explain why the heart attack struck Fairbanks. He did not have a family history of heart disease, had good cholesterol and had a healthy heart rate.

“I had a physical with the Army four days before I had my heart attack. The doctor said I wish I was in as good a shape as you. Maybe his saying that was bad luck,” joked Fairbanks.

This health problem for Fairbanks was like biking up an extreme hill, but he was determined to take the hill. Being a Soldier with a Warrior Ethos, Fairbanks wasn’t going to accept defeat or quit.

The prognosis for Fairbanks was nothing short of a heart transplant. On Aug. 5, 2005, Fairbanks received a heart.

“This is when my second life began,” said Fairbanks.
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STANFORD — The pale blue wristbands read: “Band of Brothers, Seniors 2009.” The bond is strong among the eight seniors on Olympia High School’s basketball team, particularly starters Brady Cremeens, Matt Frahm, Trevor Strubhar and Matt Flynn.

So strong, third-year coach Gerry Thornton said they sometimes “fight like brothers, but they get over it real quick.” And so strong, that in-game parental advice is interchangeable.

“If somebody yells at us from the stands, we’re not even sure whose mom it is,” Cremeens said. “I don’t have a problem if somebody else’s mom yells at me.”

It is all part of a unique mix that has propelled Olympia to its best season in years. The Spartans enter the Clinton Class 2A Regional this week as Corn Belt Conference champions for the first time since 1994. They also have a 23-4 record, one win shy of the school record set in 1985-86 (24-5).

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PLAINVILLE — On a night when the Plainville community raised money for Luke Santhouse with “Layups for Luke,” the Plainville boys basketball team must have been confused.

Instead of layups, the team hit 3-pointers. And hit a lot of them.

The Blue Devils (5-12) drained 12 3-pointers, including eight in the first half, en route to a 72-64 win against the visiting Rocky Hill Terriers (4-13).

Chase Tarca netted 20 points, but surprisingly enough only hit of Plainville’s 12 threes. Jalen Gardner and Alex DelRio came off the bench to score 19 and 16 points, respectively. Gardner hit five 3-pointers and DelRio sank four of them in an uncanny display of long-range shooting for the Blue Devils.

Tyler Cirinna led Rocky Hill with 23 points and 10 rebounds, while Nick Barron added 14 points, six rebounds and four assists.

With the loss, the Terriers were eliminated from state tournament contention.

But Tuesday night wasn’t about just the players on the court. It was about Santhouse, the Plainville sophomore who is fighting Leukemia.

All of the proceeds raised from Tuesday’s game — concessions, ticket sales and a special bake sale — were donated to the Santhouse family to assist with healthcare costs.

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Hospitals in Oregon and Washington are standardizing overhead calls and color codes to reduce the risk of confusion or human error. The move follows a survey that found wide variation in the emergency codes among the region’s hospitals. This matters because many doctors and nurses now work at more than one place. Correspondent Tom Banse reports.

If you’ve spent any time in a hospital, you know that the staff sometimes speak in code.

Overhead page: “Code blue in ER one. Code blue…”

Here at Capital Medical Center in Olympia, “code blue” means a patient’s breathing or heart has stopped. But at a few hospitals, code blue means “get security.” So now imagine a scenario involving a doctor or nurse who’s recently switched hospitals. Her patient goes into sudden cardiac arrest. She instinctively calls for code blue. But instead of the resuscitation team, the security guard comes running. This really happened at an unnamed Washington hospital. It is one reason Capital Medical Center’s chief nursing officer favors standardization.

Lisa Moylen: “When temporary personnel come, within the first hour they’re here they’re oriented to the codes because that’s very important. It would certainly be a lot easier if there were some universal components.”

Lisa Moylen says the use of temp nurses and traveling nurses has gone way up since she started in medicine 40 years ago.

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