240 Seconds
Not all heroes wear capes; some are just the right people in the right spot willing to help others in need.
Aug. 22, 2025, was just a Friday night, but it would forever change the trajectory of Bob Schriner’s life.
“My wife told me that Greek Fest was going on and I was excited. I said I haven’t had a gyro in a long time and I got on my bike like I do three times a week and my wife and my son who goes to the University of Cincinnati were getting him packed up to go back that weekend. So I jumped on my bike and I took off and I was dead 14 minutes later in the woods,” Schriner says.
There was nothing out of the ordinary that would have elicited any concern. It was his normal route, something he does many times a week, and a little bit into his bike ride he had felt something in his chest.
“I felt like a bang in my chest and it startled me a little bit and then I just kept riding. I thought OK well keep on moving so I went to the point around the park where you have to stand on the pedals to get up and over this hill. About 90% of the way up that hill it hit me. I mean like I’ve never been hit before, it was like it almost knocked me off the bike. It was like somebody hooked up a fire hose of hot wet cement into my chest and just instantly my upper body became like 20 times heavier than normal,” Schriner says.
Knowing he had to make it over the hill because where he was in the woods was a more secluded area and over the hill there was a grassy clearing.
“I pushed as hard as I possibly could to get up and over that hill and a sense of power came over me and I just kept pushing and I got up over the hill and I got into the grass area and just as I got in there I looked down and I saw two tiny people down the hill with a dog. It went black and I remember somebody saying are you OK and I said call 911 and then it was black again and then I heard a woman crying over me and she was talking to 911 on her phone and 911 coached her through performing CPR,” Schriner says.
Bob Schriner had experienced a widow-maker heart attack. The good Samaritans, Barbara, Simon, and Steve, who were willing to help before the medical first responders arrived, saved his life.
“I had 240 seconds from the point I laid down and everything depends on the caliber of the people that walk by you within that 240 seconds and I was so lucky that the people that walked by me are who they are,” Schriner says.
Everybody has a chance to be a hero.
“If I can have somebody learn CPR and about AED and then actually use it to save a life that would be a grand slam for me,” Schriner says.
National CPR and AED Awareness Week is observed annually from June 1 to June 7, emphasizing the importance of learning CPR and how to use an automated external defibrillator (AED) device to save lives.
Seconds matter during cardiac arrests and knowing hands-only CPR or being near an AED device greatly increases a person’s chance of survival.
Hands-only CPR is CPR without rescue breaths and is executed in two steps: Call 911 to get first responders on their way and push hard and fast in the center of the victim’s chest to the beat of the Bee Gees’ song “Stayin’ Alive.”
To learn how to do hands-only CPR, you can visit heart.org/handsonlycpr and watch a one-minute demonstration video.
It is always recommended to take a basic life-saving or CPR course to learn the full skills of CPR, including rescue breaths and high-quality chest compressions.
To learn CPR for free, the Westfield CPR Test Center offers free training courses because they believe life-saving CPR techniques should be accessible to everyone. To learn more, visit cprtestcenter.com/locations/westfield-in-46074/
The Hamilton County Health Department offers free CPR and safe sitter courses that teach basic life-saving skills. Information can be found at hamiltoncounty.in.gov/1925/Health-Department
A great free resource is also the PulsePoint phone app, which shares exact locations of nearby AED devices and gives alerts by Hamilton County 911 Communications, simultaneously with the Westfield Fire Department, when CPR is needed at a nearby public place with the purpose of increasing the survival rate for cardiac arrest victims.
The Westfield Fire Department is also dedicated to having the community learn CPR with information at westfieldin.gov/202/EMS-Division
CPR classes are also offered by the Red Cross at redcross.org/local/indiana/take-a-class/cpr and the American Heart Association at atlas.heart.org/
Be a hero and learn CPR today!
