Thanks to our Partner, NAPA Autotech Training and Pico Technology
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In this episode, Matt shares a personal Thanksgiving story that turned into a real medical emergency. A long-time family friend suddenly becomes unresponsive at the dinner table, and Matt walks through the moment he had to decide whether to act, despite not being “formally” current on CPR.
He talks candidly about what it felt like to drag her to the floor, check for breathing, make the call to start chest compressions, hear ribs crack—and then watch her come back. From there, he connects the experience to life in an automotive shop: CPR and first-aid readiness, AEDs, fire extinguishers, panic, freezing, and why “somebody will know what to do” is not a plan.
It’s a conversation about preparedness, stress, and how our greatest weapon really is the thought we choose when everything suddenly goes sideways.
Episode Highlights
Opening with the quote: “Our greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.”
Matt fighting a cold and joking about his “Nat King Cole” voice.
Thanksgiving at his parents’ house: Family and close friends gathered, including a 75-year-old family friend (“Jane”) who’s been part of the family’s holidays for years.
- Jane says she’s really dizzy; Matt gets up to escort her to the living room.
- Her chin suddenly drops to her chest, she becomes unresponsive, cold, and clammy.
- The decision point:
- Matt checks for airway, tries to feel for a pulse, listens for breathing—only hears gurgling.
- Admits he doesn’t fully trust his own ability to feel a pulse with his heart pounding.
- The mental calculus: If you can’t be sure, what else is there to do but chest compressions?
Starting chest compressions:
- Dragging her to the floor and focusing completely on her while the rest of the room “disappears.”
- Locking his elbows, using the beat of “Stayin’ Alive” as a guide.
- First compression: feeling and hearing the sternum/ribs crack—and taking that as feedback that he’s at the right depth.
- Before the second compression, her eyes fly open and she lets out a sound.
The immediate emotional whiplash:
- First feeling isn’t relief, but anger and self-doubt: “Did I just overreact?” “Did I crack her ribs for nothing?” “Was this some dramatic hero move I didn’t need to make?”
- Reorienting to the reality that she was unresponsive and now is awake, talking, and oriented.
EMS arrives:
- Very low blood pressure at the house (around 70/40).
- Hooked up to a 4-lead, showing atrial fibrillation with PVCs.
- Matt nerds out on the waveforms and explains AFib and PVCs in plain terms.
- EMTs jokingly ask if he’s a doctor because of how well he reads the traces.
Later imaging reveals:
- A cracked or stress-fractured sternum from compressions.
- Multiple blood clots in her lungs.
- The doctor tells her that sternum fractures are common with CPR and adds:
- Don’t be mad at him — he saved your life.
- For Matt, the key relief is not the “hero” label, but confirmation that he did the right thing by acting.
Connecting it back to shops and real life:
- Afterward, Matt starts calling around trying to set up CPR and first-aid training.
- Hard question: if he drops at the shop, who’s going to act?
- Extending the concern beyond employees: what about customers?
- Preparedness checklist for shops:
- Is there an AED on-site, and does anyone actually know how to use it?
- Has anyone at the shop had recent CPR and first-aid training?
- Do people know how to use a fire extinguisher under stress?
- Not just “I’ve seen it on TV,” but in a realistic scenario.
- Human behavior under stress:
- Real panic is often freezing or fawning, not running in circles screaming.
- Most people don’t know how they’ll react until they’re already in it.
- “Common sense” isn’t common—if you know what to do, it’s probably because someone taught you.
Choosing thoughts under stress:
- Remembering the old acronym STOP: Stop, Think, Observe, Proceed.
- The balance between not rushing blindly and not freezing.
- Training and preparation as a way to “stack the odds” toward rational action.
- Parallels and timing: The eerie similarity to his brother performing CPR on their dad almost two years earlier.
- Wondering if bodies “let go” when they finally feel safe around family or in familiar places.
Closing thoughts:
- Not every story ends as well as this one did, but training can turn tragedies into survivable events—or reduce the damage.
- Sometimes doing the right thing feels awful in the moment, but it’s still the right thing.
Thanks to our Partner, NAPA Autotech Training
NAPA Autotech’s team of ASE Master Certified Instructors are conducting over 1,200 classes covering 28 automotive topics. To see a selection, go to napaautotech.com for more details.
Thanks to our Partner, Pico Technology
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Contact Information
The Automotive Repair Podcast Network: https://automotiverepairpodcastnetwork.com/
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