SALT LAKE CITY — Gavin Fenton, a 38-year-old IT worker, didn't know the training he received as a young Boy Scout would one day save someone's life.

But when someone burst into Fenton's office last year and yelled for someone who knew CPR, his training kicked in. In the warehouse, Fenton found co-worker Kent Carothers splayed on the floor, breathing irregularly and turning purple.

There "wasn't a whole lot of hesitation," he said. "I thought I remembered a few of the things I was taught and started the compressions."

As his co-worker's life hung by a thread, Fenton and Scott Hunt, another employee, pumped Carothers' chest and performed rescue breathing.

"I couldn't even tell you how long we went, how long it took," Fenton recalled. "It seemed it felt like forever."

Fenton and Hunt kept their co-worker's heart beating until paramedics arrived. After several days in the hospital, Carothers was back to full health.

It's early intervention from bystanders like Fenton and Hunt that may be the key to increasing dismal survival rates for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, according to a new study released by the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Researchers led by Duke Medicine found that a North Carolina campaign to educate the public about CPR and automated external defibrillator use was associated with increased levels of bystander intervention and better survival rates for cardiac arrest patients.

Analyzing 5,000 people in North Carolina who experienced out-of-hospital cardiac arrest from 2010 to 2013, researchers found that the share of those who survived without significant brain damage increased 37 percent over the years the program was in place.

Bystanders who intervened before medical personnel arrived gave patients a better chance at surviving, according to the study. Nearly 12 percent of patients who received bystander-initiated CPR survived, compared to 7.6 percent of patients who didn't receive treatment until EMS arrived.

Fenton says he was initially afraid to perform CPR on his co-worker. And despite the positive outcome, he still wrestles with mixed emotions, including guilt that he didn't do enough and fear that the situation could have ended badly.

But E.J. Hinterman, a medical training specialist with Unified Fire Authority, says Fenton's decision to favor action over inaction was exactly right.

"Between five to eight minutes is our response time in Salt Lake City, so if somebody lies there and nothing is done for them in five to eight minutes, their chances of survival are almost nil," Hinterman said.

The Unified Fire Authority, partnering with the Salt Lake Fire City Department, started an educational program in February similar to the one in North Carolina. Called Push To Survive, the program is designed to help members of the public feel more confident about performing CPR.

The 10-minute classes are free and open to the public. The video is also posted on pushtosurvive.org, so people can learn to do CPR at home.

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More than 120 people spent part of their Saturday learning CPR from firefighters and police officers at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center. The free class was designed to reach children and adults who may not have previous experience with CPR.

"It's a technical procedure, but what we do know is that the only way you can do it wrong is not try," Hinterman said.

Push to Survive has already led to local police officers saving two people since the program began, he said.

In South Jordan, a similar program became a city ordinance in 2009. The city provides free CPR and AED training to anybody who lives and works in South Jordan. The ordinance also requires every police and fire department vehicle to have an AED and every building with more than 150 people to have the device.

South Jordan Fire Battalion Chief Wayne Edginton said he's seen a "huge increase" in the number of citizens performing CPR and believes it's the reason why cardiac arrest survival rates have increased.

"Most of the calls we go on, CPR is in progress," Edginton said. "That's a great thing."

South Jordan has inspired other cities in Utah to start putting AEDs in their police cars and government buildings as well, according to Edginton.

As for Fenton, he still doesn't like to think about the day he was called upon to save his co-worker. It was a frightening, traumatic experience — not one he'd like to relive.

But ultimately, Fenton says he's thankful he could fall back on his training in a scary situation.

"My hope is if I were ever in that same position — it sounds cliche — but that somebody would step up at least and make an attempt to save my life," he said. "For me, it's not a heroic thing, it's a humane thing." Email: dchen@deseretnews.com Twitter: DaphneChen_

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