One year later, the impact of a dramatic rescue continues

During his decades in emergency services, Joe Bator, first as a professional firefighter in Illinois and most recently as a volunteer with Pontiac-Price Place Volunteer Fire Department,  has responded to dozens, maybe hundreds, of calls where someone's heart has stopped unexpectedly. He has seen firsthand how surviving cardiac arrest often depends on how quickly people around the victim start cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

"But you wouldn't believe how many times we get to someone having a heart attack, and the family is standing around yelling at each other and not doing anything to help the person,” he told the Times a year ago after he and wife Shirley responded to an emergency call for a 17-year-old who had suddenly collapsed at Pontiac Cove Marina. 

That call would repeat what Bator had experienced previously as a first responder, and it would also confirm how important it is to respond quickly with your best attempt at CPR, even if you’ve never been trained in doing it. 

An unlikely team of lifesavers

Retired after Joe’s 30-year career as a firefighter and emergency services responder in Illinois, the Bators moved to Pontiac in 2013 and both became volunteers with the PPPVFD, which Joe now serves as chief. During his time in the Pontiac resort and retirement community, he says he has done more CPR than he did in all his 30 years as an EMS responder in Illinois. 

PPPVFD’s average response time to medical calls in Pontiac is about five minutes, thanks to  Joe and Shirley and the other volunteers who serve as PPPVFD first responders. As chief, Joe carries in his Ford Expedition an automatic external defibrillator (AED), an electronic apparatus that’s used to try and restart a stopped heart, or return it to productive rhythm, by shocks delivered through pads attached to the victim’s chest. 

That night a year ago, Joe and Shirley were already on their way by the time the 911 operator dispatched the PPPVFD first responders. Then, as they rushed to the marina, they had mixed reactions when they heard the dispatcher’s next message: “CPR in progress.” The message meant it was a serious call, but it also meant “someone was doing something,” Joe said. 

And it meant that, when Joe got out of his truck at the marina, he carried the AED with him as the Bators joined the unlikely team of friends and strangers who would save Logan Hillhouse’s life. Other PPPVFD responders also arrived to make sure the hands-on rescuers had everything they needed. 

This story marks the one-year anniversary of that life-and-death event on July 1, 2024, and shares how the unforgettable experience has impacted Logan, his family and his rescuers since then. And it tells how Logan’s story could possibly lead to another Ozark Countian’s life being saved in the future. 

‘A zero chance’ for survival

The full story of Logan’s cardiac arrest and dramatic rescue was recounted in the July 24, 2024, edition of the Times, which can be read at ozarkcountytimes.com (in the search box, enter “Logan Hillhouse”). Here’s the shorter version: 

On July 1, 2024, the handsome teenager, about a month away from starting his senior year at Gainesville High School, was finishing up an ordinary workday at the marina, where he worked as a dockhand. As one last boat pulled in for gas a few minutes before closing, Logan walked toward the fuel dock – and suddenly collapsed onto a 4-foot-wide walkway.

When they realized Logan wasn’t getting up, his marina co-worker Jadrien Hyatt and the four passengers in the boat quickly gathered around him, calling his name and urging him to “wake up.” 

Jadrien frantically called marina manager Jabet Wade, who was at home with her husband, Matt, and her parents, marina owners Tim and Johnna Morgan. Hearing that Logan had collapsed, Jabet told Jadrien to call 911 and then, without telling her family where she was going, Jabet immediately jumped into her vehicle and made the three-minute drive to the marina. Matt, puzzled, followed in their side-by-side ATV.  

Rushing onto the marina, Jabet asked the group crouched around Logan, “Is he breathing?”

“Barely,” someone replied. The bystanders had turned Logan onto his side, and one of the boat passengers, a schoolteacher, was doing a sternum rub. But Logan remained unconscious. 

Jabet knew the ambulance had been dispatched, but she also called PPPVFD chief Joe Bator directly, asking for help. Jabet was still out front, where the cell signal was clearer, when Matt arrived. She told him something was wrong with Logan, and he ran toward the fuel dock. By the time Matt got to Logan, the teenager had stopped breathing.

Some of the seven people who were gathered around Logan had completed CPR training. But it was Matt Wade, who hadn’t had the training, who knelt beside Logan and, while screaming Logan’s name, began chest compressions. 

“I did my best to do CPR, which I didn’t know how to do,” Matt told the Times last year. “I guess it was instinct.”

Jabet called Logan’s parents, Corey and Hope Hillhouse, but could only leave a message. 

Meanwhile, paramedic Chelan Phillips, called “Shaye” by her friends, happened to hear the 911 radio call dispatching PPPVFD first responders. She and her boyfriend, Jeff Burress, also an EMS professional, were at the camper they’ve kept parked at Pontiac for several years as a vacation getaway. They’re both full-time employees of South Howell Ambulance District in West Plains and also work for Ozark County Ambulance as needed and when available. 

The 911 dispatcher had originally reported a 17-year-old having a seizure, and at first Shaye didn’t plan to respond. Usually, seizures have resolved by the time EMS arrives, Shaye said, and she still had a few hours left of her weeklong vacation. Plus, she didn’t have the advanced, lifesaving medical gear carried in the ambulances where she works. But that night, Jeff told her, “You probably should go. The ambulance is at least 20 minutes away. And it’s a kid . . .”

Shaye knew he was right. So, wearing her lake shorts and flipflops and carrying only her cell phone and soda, she made the short drive to the marina, expecting things to be fine when she got there.  

But when she arrived, Shaye said later, “As soon as I saw Jabet’s face, I knew things weren’t good.” 

Ignoring her paramedic training to “walk purposefully” to the scene, Shaye ran onto the dock, where Matt knelt beside Logan on the skinny walkway, “screaming his name and doing compressions and giving him breaths, mouth-to-mouth,” Shaye said. 

Later, she would recall that when she first saw Logan,  “he was gray-purple-blue, and I thought, ‘There is zero chance this kid will be alive when this is over,’” she said. “But he’s 17, and his mother’s on the way, and I have to try.”

‘He’s alive’

She took over the chest compressions while Matt continued to give Logan breaths, wiping vomit from his nose and mouth. Soon the Bators arrived, and 74-year-old Joe knelt down and relieved Matt beside Logan’s head. While Shirley recorded what was done and how long each step continued, Joe hurriedly set up the AED and a bag-valve mask (BVM). As Shaye continued chest compressions, Joe attached the AED’s shocking pads to Logan’s chest and then used the BVM to force oxygen into Logan’s lungs. 

The AED checks for a “shockable” heart rhythm, and if it’s found, the device says, “Shock advised.” Then rescuers push a button to deliver the shock, hoping it will jolt the heart back into regular rhythm. If that happens, CPR stops, and EMS responders prepare to transport the patient. If the shock doesn’t return the heart to regular rhythm, rescuers resume CPR, stopping every two minutes and taking their hands off while the AED does another rhythm check. If it detects a shockable rhythm, another shock is delivered.

That night, Shaye and Joe delivered three shocks with the AED, continuing CPR in between, but Logan didn’t respond. Finally, after the fourth shock, Logan’s heart restarted. Matt ran to Jabet, still waiting out front for Logan’s parents, and shouted, “He’s alive.”

Corey and Hope Hillhouse, Logan’s mom and dad, arrived shortly before the Ozark County Ambulance. The crew loaded Logan, and Shaye joined them in the ambulance. As they rushed to Baxter Healthcare in Mountain Home, Arkansas, with the Hillhouses following, Shaye intubated Logan.

At the hospital, Logan was stabilized before being flown to Mercy Hospital in Springfield. The next day, he was flown to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, where he would undergo extensive testing and treatments, including ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation), a life-support measure that takes over both heart and lung functions. Doctors hoped the ECMO would allow Logan’s heart and lungs to heal, warning that, if that didn’t happen, “You’re looking at a heart transplant.”

Thankfully, Logan’s heart and lungs did grow stronger, and on July 5, he was taken off ECMO. After that, he endured some hard, challenging days of additional tests and treatments, but the doctors did not find a cause for Logan’s cardiac arrest. He continued to grow stronger, though, and on July 10, he was discharged and the family returned home. 

The continuing search for a cause

It might have seemed totally unlikely after Logan’s terrifying near-death experience, but with a few minor exceptions, and a pervasive fear of another cardiac arrest, the Hillhouses’ lives returned to normal. One difference was that Logan was given a “life vest” to wear at all times, except in the shower or a few other situations. He has worn it constantly throughout the past year. 

The fabric vest – Hope compares it with a women’s sports bra – is equipped with sensors that constantly record Logan’s heart and feed the readings into an attached computer he carries on a shoulder strap. The vest’s electronics, which are monitored long-distance by medical personnel in Logan’s doctors’ Kansas City office, vibrate if something unusual is detected. And it will deliver a shock if Logan’s heart ever stops again. 

In the past year, no shocks have been needed, but the vest frequently vibrates when it detects any kind of cardiac irregularity – or false readings. “Sometimes it feels like a million times a day,” Logan said recently. “It vibrates very often because it’s not reading right. It’s very finicky. It has to be almost perfect on my skin. If not, it’ll throw a code or tell me something’s not right. Then I have to hit two buttons and fix it.”

Last September, when Logan and his parents returned to Kansas City for a follow-up appointment, they gave blood that biomedical scientists would use to extract stem cells, hoping to replicate Logan’s heart tissue that could be studied to determine what caused his heart to stop. The Hillhouses had hoped to hear results by spring. Instead, “in February, they said they had run out of sample,” Hope said. “So we had to start all over.” The next day, the family headed to Kansas City to give more blood. 

While no cause has been identified, there is a small indication that the problem might be genetic, she said. If the cause of the incident can’t be accurately diagnosed and treated, Logan may eventually have a defibrillator surgically implanted. 

Hope said they are thankful that Logan’s cardiac arrest happened when he was 17 when he was still eligible to be treated at the children’s research hospital in Kansas City. “They have a genetics lab there, so we have those resources,” she said. “If he had been 18 when it happened, we would never have gone to that hospital, and we would have been on our own to find the cause.”

She laughs, admitting her frustration that the medical team insists on talking directly to Logan now, rather than to his mom, because on April 19, he turned 18 and is officially an adult. 

The impact of Logan’s story

Despite the seriousness of Logan’s near-death event, good things have happened as a result of his rescue. As Logan’s story spread, efforts were made to see that more residents were trained in CPR. The Ozark County and South Howell ambulance districts partnered to present a free, informational CPR and Stop the Bleed class at the PPPVFD fire station on July 24, 2024. 

The class didn’t provide CPR certification for the 30-plus attendees, including Logan and his family as well as Matt and Jabet Wade and their marina employees, but it did give them basic information and hands-on practice using simulator mannequins. 

The crucial role the PPPVFD’s automatic external defibrillator played in saving Logan’s life prompted questions about which other Ozark County fire departments had them. Many departments did, but in almost every case those AEDs, while still useable, were old and obsolete, with outdated reporting capabilities. They were also expensive to operate, with single-use batteries and shock pads that were costly to replace.

In response, last October, the Ozark County Commissioners used money from the national opioid lawsuit settlement fund to buy AEDs for all Ozark County VFDs as well as the sheriff’s department. A new AED was also installed in the courthouse, replacing an old model that had hung in the central hallway for years with expired shock pads and a battery that may have never been checked or charged. Presiding Commissioner Terry Newton told the Times that Logan’s story was “a big reason we decided to get those AED machines.”

The Times last week confirmed that other AEDs in Gainesville are located in the Ozark County Health Department on Third Street, the Missouri Ozarks Community Health office on Elm Street, the sheriff’s department on County Road 806 and Ozarks Healthcare’s Gainesville clinic on Medical Drive. There may be others.

In Pontiac, the PPPVFD gratefully accepted its new defibrillator from the commissioners. Joe Bator said that, in the past year, the department has used the AED twice on emergency medical calls. Unfortunately, in both cases, the patient did not survive. 

At a meeting of the county’s VFD chiefs last week, the Times asked if any other department had used the new AEDs. All the chiefs agreed they were glad to have the updated equipment, but only PPPVFD had used theirs on a call. Some chiefs said their departments’ first responders had performed CPR during the past year but did not use their AED, usually because the county’s ambulance crew arrived and took over before the department’s AED was brought to the scene. 

After accepting the new AED, PPPVFD donated one of its older units to Pontiac Cove Marina, where it’s now installed on an exterior wall outside the marina office. It’s in an unlocked, accessible cabinet that is equipped with an alarm that sounds whenever the cabinet door is opened.    

Jabet, the marina manager, said customers ask about Logan “all the time,” adding, “it’s a joy for me to be able to tell them he’s doing very well and recently graduated from high school.” 

Logan expects to work at the marina occasionally this summer, but his full-time job now is Ozarks Shine, the new mobile auto-detailing business he has started (call him at 417-989-9807 for information). 

Like their marina customers, Matt and Jabet often think about Logan and consider how his story has impacted their lives since then. “I’m much more aware of my surroundings . . . in restaurants, airports, grocery stores,” Jabet said. “I wonder, if someone needs help, will I be brave enough to respond? I hope so, but I also hope I never have to be in that position again. It was a terrifying thing to witness.”

Shaye Phillips, with 16 years’ experience in EMS, first as an emergency medical technician and, since 2015, as a paramedic, also keeps Logan’s story close to mind. “I think of it every day,” she said last week. “I tell the story all the time. My entire family in nine different states has shared Logan’s story. I think the whole of Ozark County was dramatically touched by the story because somebody knew Logan or knew his family or knew someone who responded. Logan’s story has reached a long way.”

The experience especially impacted Shaye because she has a son close to Logan’s age. And also because, “Every single day I deal with sick people. But this was the most effect I’ve had on anyone without any of my equipment,” she said. “I get caught up in my medical equipment and tools, and I forget that it’s all about what your hands and your knowledge can do.”

In her job during the past year, she estimates she has performed CPR 10 to 12 times – only once successfully. She agrees with Joe Bator that the crucial action in surviving cardiac arrest is how quickly CPR can be started – even if it’s not perfectly performed. 

“I might be the reason Logan’s heart is beating now, but Matt is the reason his brain still functions,” Shaye said. Matt’s quick response and his imperfect, untrained chest compressions were “moving blood and oxygenating Logan’s brain enough” to prevent brain damage, she said. “I just prolonged it until Joe got there with the AED.”  

Logan invited Shaye to his high school graduation in May, and she was there, happily crying when she saw him walk in wearing his cap and gown. Shaye says she hopes to be invited to all Logan’s milestone events in the future – and expects to cry happy tears at each one. 

‘The Miracle of Logan’

Hope Hillhouse compiled photos and stories about Logan’s cardiac arrest and rescue into a 25-page, hardback book titled “The Miracle of Logan.” In it she shared a photo of the page from the Christian devotional she reads every evening at bedtime. 

The book was left behind when she and Corey rushed to be with Logan in the Mountain Home, and then Springfield, and then Kansas City hospitals. She didn’t get to read the page she would have read on July 1 until after the Hillhouses returned home on July 10, and when she did, she was amazed at its message, which encouraged Christians to spread the word of how God’s goodness, mercy, love and kindness had touched them personally. 

“You have a story to tell,” it said.