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St. Alexius Staffers Honored

Doctors knew Sarah Heggen-Lewis was in trouble within a few minutes after she gave birth to a son and began bleeding heavily. Fifteen minutes later, Dr. John Witt had mobilized St. Alexius Medical Center to save Heggen-Lewis’ life.

More than 15 staffers worked for four hours on Aug. 28 in what hospital representatives call an extraordinary effort to save a life. St. Alexius’ “Miracles Through Cooperation” program honored those individuals, who were from St. Alexius Women’s Surgery Center, Surgical Services, Laboratory and Pastoral Care, Mid Dakota Clinic, the Heart and Lung Clinic and the Birth Place, Tuesday afternoon at the hospital’s auditorium.

“At a couple points I looked around and it was amazing to see the outpouring of people,” said Witt, who was Heggen-Lewis’ primary physician. “Everyone was focused and paid diligent attention to what they were trying to accomplish. We had to mobilize forces because Sarah was in trouble–she was bleeding so bad and losing her blood volume so fast.”

Heggen-Lewis’ entire blood volume was replaced three times in more than two hours. Witt said he thought the bleeding was caused by an amniotic fluid embolism, which kept her blood from clotting.

“There is no way to prove that is what it was, but I will go to my grave believing that it was an embolism,” Witt said. “It is very rare. I will never see it again–I hope to God I never do.”

Heggen-Lewis said she and her husband Jay Lewis, who are from Alexander, decided to make the 3 ½-hour drive to Bismarck for prenatal care and the birth because they knew they were in good hands.

“It was important for me to stay here,” Heggen-Lewis said. “I felt really comfortable here. We came here because Dr. Witt had been referred to us, and we liked him.”

That decision saved Heggen-Lewis life.

“If we hadn’t have been here, Sarah wouldn’t have made it through the night,” Lewis said. “A smaller hospital wouldn’t have had the resources, and she was so touch-and-go she wouldn’t have been able to be airlifted.”

Witt said an average surgery crew is five; that night 18 people worked to save Heggen-Lewis’ life. “There were two anesthesiologists in the room. I don’t ever remember two anesthesiologists being in the room at one time,” said Witt, who has worked for St. Alexius for 15 years.

For Dr. Michael Jankoviak, who started at St. Alexius’ Heart and Lung Clinic in July, working on Heggen-Lewis’ case gave him an opportunity to use his experience. “In my residency I did a lot of trauma, and you just have to work on resuscitating,” said Jankoviak, who worked in Denver, before coming to Bismarck. “That’s what you focus on. And that’s what this turned into–focusing on resuscitation. The fun thing about this though was the ‘Miracles Through Cooperation.’ It’s great to see a good outcome when there were several points in time when it didn’t look great.”

“Miracles Through Cooperation” was started in 1993 by St. Alexius to recognize people who put forth extraordinary measures to save a life. This was the fifth time the group honored individuals, but it was the first time the hospital honored internal employees.

“It’s not often you see an effort like this,” said Karla Sayler, director of Women’s and Children’s Services, who took the Heggen-Lewis case to the administrative council to recommend it be part of the Miracles program. “There is teamwork on a lot of the patients we see here, but this was an extraordinary effort. We needed them, and they were there every step of the way.”

By Sheena Dooley

Bismarck Tribune

Nov. 6, 2002

©2002,

Bismarck Tribune.

Reprinted with permission.

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