Quinn lauds 'Heartsaver Heroes'

Gov. Quinn recognized several suburban "Heartsaver Heroes" at an awards presentation in the Thompson Center in downtown Chicago Tuesday.

More than a dozen people across northern Illinois were honored for saving lives by using the Automated External Defibrillator, a "miraculous machine," Quinn said, that has seen more widespread use since being mandated at schools, indoor park-district facilities and fitness facilities by the so-called Colleen O'Sullivan Law passed in 2004 and expanded by Gov. Quinn a year ago.

Among those honored were Katie Basile, a worker at the Prairie Stone Fitness and Wellness Center in Hoffman Estates, who revived Elgin's Jack Melligan after he suffered cardiac arrest; Naperville's Dr. Vincent Bufalino, who revived a dinner guest with an AED retrieved from his car trunk; College of DuPage student Justin Gedner, a Naperville YMCA lifeguard who revived a man who collapsed during a basketball game; and Eric Gustafson, Laura LaRue and Tracy Trimble, employees at Naperville's Edward Health and Fitness Center, who saved a man who passed out from overexertion during a workout.

In most cases, the person saved was there to present the Heartsaver Hero Award.

"The word 'hero' is bandied about in our society," Quinn said, "but everybody here is a hero."

Quinn said he hoped to make AEDs "as common as fire extinguishers" across the state as they become more affordable. One manufacturer said the cost of an AED is now about $1,200, with a battery good for four years.

O'Sullivan was a staff attorney for the Illinois House of Representatives who died of heart complications in 2002 after exercising at a health club.