Robert and Diann Hunt have been neighbors with Kathy Hudson on Moontown Road for the past eight years.

But it wasn’t until Thanksgiving week that the Madison County couple understood how lucky they are to be living next door to a Huntsville Hospital registered nurse with extensive CPR training.

Robert was getting ready for bed on November 24, a Monday night, when he began to feel dizzy. Diann knew it was serious when his lips turned purple and he started to lose consciousness. She called 911 and then remembered:

Kathy next door is a nurse. She’ll know what to do.

Diann ran out the front door and across the dark yard to Kathy’s house, frantically banging on the front door and ringing the doorbell while remaining on the phone with the 911 operator.

Kathy had just fallen asleep – exhausted from her 12-hour shift the night before in Huntsville Hospital’s Acute Medical Care Unit III. When she got up and answered the door, the panic in Diann’s face was undeniable.

As a registered nurse, Kathy is required to have a Healthcare Provider-level Basic Life Support certification. She just completed the biennial training course in September, so the skills were fresh in her mind.

After four rounds of cardiopulmonary resuscitation – 30 chest compressions followed by two breaths – Kathy felt a faint pulse in Robert’s neck, then his eyes began to flicker open.

Kathy remembers yelling with excitement: “He’s got a pulse! He’s breathing!”

A HEMSI ambulance arrived moments later, followed by a small army of volunteer firefighters from the nearby Central and Moores Mill communities.

Doctors have told Robert, who works for the City of Huntsville as a heavy equipment operator, that he is going to have to quit smoking and will need long-term pulmonary rehab to help strengthen his lungs.