A long-time visitor to our islands got a chance to meet the people who saved his life.

On January 15, Richard Schmidt was wrapping up his 2-week stay on Kauai.

As he was waiting to board his plane at the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport his heart suddenly stopped.



But thanks to the quick thinking of Hawaiian Airlines employees, an off-duty firefighter and others, Schmidt was brought back to life with the help of an AED.

“I’m great. I mean going home is good too but to meet all the people and feel the aloha is strengthening. Gives me extra self confidence that my body will continue to heal and I’ll be going for a lot of number of years, I hope,” said Richard Schmidt.

In 2006 the Department of Transportation installed 200 AEDs at Hawaii’s airports. More than half of them are available to the public.

Statistics show if an AED is used within the first 3 minutes of cardiac arrest the victim has an 80-90% chance of survival.