It was a typical Friday for David Hardgrave. He went to work and then to Reed Park with some friends and co-workers to play basketball.
"There were four of us playing," Chad Keller said. "I turned around and he was just laying there."
Keller said the receptionist at the recreation center called 911 and he and one of the other men began performing CPR on Hardgrave.
"I was kind of nervous," said Keller, who had gone through CPR training a year earlier.
"I wasn't sure what was going on. Once we started compressions, I wasn't even thinking about it anymore."
Saturday will mark one year since Hardgrave's heart attack. Now he's back playing basketball with Keller in the same gym where he collapsed.
Hardgrave doesn't remember much about the day of his heart attack or the first couple of days after he was taken to the hospital, he said, but his wife, Rita Hardgrave, does.
Keller said, "Out of the whole ordeal, the hardest thing was calling his wife."
Rita Hardgrave said the doctors told her that having someone perform CPR on her husband until paramedics arrived made all the difference.
"It was because of CPR that he is alive today," she said.
Now the Hardgraves and Keller are encouraging others to take advantage of Citizen CPR's free training.
Leaha Kopp, the nonprofit group's executive director, said it's important to have a basic knowledge of CPR -- or cardiopulmonary resuscitation -- and to know what to
do when a crisis arises.
"The goal is to make the layperson feel comfortable and use what they learned and not be afraid to do it," she said.
David Hardgrave's story could have turned out tragically if not for what Keller learned.
"Chad had taken one of our free classes, and it happened here at Reed Park," Kopp said, marveling at "all the little puzzle pieces that came together that day."
David Hardgrave said he just can't say thank you enough to Keller and the other men who helped him that day.
"It makes me appreciate there was someone there who kept their heads about them and could help," he said.
Keller never thought he would have to use the skills he learned in the CPR training class, but he is so glad he took it, he said.
"I'd rather be here than sitting at home thinking, 'Man, I wish I had done something' and live with that for the rest of my life," he said.
How to save a life
Citizen CPR is offering free training classes this summer at several Tulsa Park and Recreation Department locations. Classes take place from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Saturdays, and registration is required. For more information, call 596-3600 or go online to tulsaworld.com/tulsacpr.
Classes are slated:
--June 6 and July 25, Reed Park, 4233 S. Yukon Ave.
--June 13 and July 18, Whiteside Park, 4009 S. Pittsburg Ave.
--June 20 and Aug. 8, Lacy Park, 2134 N. Madison Place
--June 27 and Aug. 15, McClure Park, 7440 E. Seventh St.
--July 11 and Aug. 1, Hicks Park, 3443 S. Mingo Road
Sara Plummer 581-8465 sara.plummer@tulsaworld.com To see more of the Tulsa World, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.tulsaworld.com. Copyright (c) 2009, Tulsa World, Okla. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Copyright (C) 2009, Tulsa World, Okla.