City High tennis coach says he will ‘never forget’ officer who saved his life

IOWA CITY — An Iowa City man said he thinks about the officer who saved his life in September “every single day.”

“I couldn’t have been more lucky to have an officer there — a former EMT — and have an ambulance nearby,” Chip Hardesty, 80, longtime tennis coach at City High School, told The Gazette during a phone interview. “If it happened at home, it might not have been a good outcome.”

Hardesty suffered a cardiac arrest during the City High homecoming parade on Sept. 20, but because of the quick actions of Officer Andy Farrell, who was working traffic control on the parade route, the coach will get to spend the holidays with his daughter’s family in Maryland.

Farrell, 38, who has been an officer since 2014, was recently honored during a ceremony with a Life Saving Commendation from the Iowa City Police Department. He received a medal and commendation bar for saving Hardesty. The ceremony also welcomed six new officers to the department.

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“This was very special for me, being able to talk to the person after something like this happens,” Farrell said. “This is a first. Chip came to the ceremony and he did send me a note, thanking me for that day. He told me he was going to fly to Maryland to see his family and that made me feel great that he was doing well.”

Hardesty said it was nice getting to meet “Andy” and his family.

“I just think he’s terrific and deserves it,” Hardesty said. “I don’t have any memory of what happened to me or what he did but others filled me in. He saved my life.”

Farrell said his wife, their kids — a 5-year-old and 1-year-old — parents, in-laws, friends and his co-workers attended the ceremony.

Officer acted quickly

Hardesty, who has coached at City High since 2009 and been hall monitor and supervisor of the school’s credit recovery program since 2005, recalls walking in the parade and throwing out candy to the spectators. As they proceeded down south First Avenue, past a Hy-Vee and Southeast Junior High, he started feeling bad and had to sit down.

His friend went for help and got them a ride in the parade’s grand marshal’s car — a Corvette from the Eastern Iowa Corvette Club — which took them down to Muscatine Avenue, where Farrell was working traffic control.

“I don’t even remember the ride,” Hardesty said.

Farrell saw the yellow Corvette as it came to Muscatine, pulling off the street and a man, who later was identified as Hardesty, was slumped over in the front passenger seat. Farrell immediately radioed dispatch for an ambulance.

The driver and others said Hardesty wasn’t feeling well. Farrell first checked his pulse, but Hardesty didn’t have one and he wasn’t breathing. Farrell pulled him out of the car and started CPR. He then had a bystander, a man in his mid-20s who said he had training, take over chest compressions while Farrell got an AED — automated external defibrillator — out of his police vehicle.

An AED analyzes the heart’s rhythm and then delivers an electric shock, which actually stops the heart to help restart it, Farrell said. It was successful and Hardesty had a pulse. Farrell said he continued compressions until the paramedics arrived. It didn’t take them long since they were nearby because of the parade.

Hardesty said he was later told they had to revive him two more times in the ambulance. He had a heart bypass surgery two years ago and had been doing well. This time, he had two or more blocked arteries, and one was the left anterior artery — the largest in the heart.

Hardesty had stents placed in his heart and he remained in cardiac intensive care for about three weeks. He was hospitalized for a total of 34 days. At some point during his stay he came down with pneumonia.

“I’m feeling a lot better, but not 100 percent,” Hardesty said during the interview last week. “Now, I have a pacemaker. But I get to fly to Maryland tomorrow to spend the holiday with my daughter, Rachel, and my 2-year-old granddaughter — who is the smartest. I know people say that but she really is. My daughter and granddaughter were there for me. They flew here when I was in the hospital and after I got out.”

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Farrell said he remained calm because of his training. He has given CPR and used an AED with a successful outcome three times as an officer. A fourth time he performed CPR and paramedics successfully resuscitated the person with a defibrillator.

He couldn’t recall how many people he revived as a paramedic.

Farrell said he always had a sense of duty to help people. He could easily talk to them and wasn’t apprehensive about asking for personal information, as a paramedic and an officer. Growing up, his father was the administrator of a nursing home in Des Moines and he would go there and help the residents.

He became a certified paramedic in 2006 and first worked for Medic EMS in Davenport before working for Johnson County Ambulance Service.

He joined the department in 2014, while still working as a paramedic, to take a more proactive role in the community. There was a lot of “waiting around” — waiting for emergency medical calls — with the ambulance service. He worked both jobs until 2015.

“Hopefully, we (officers) can stop a problem before it starts — steer them away from making poor choices,” Farrell said.

Farrell said he isn’t a “punitive” police officer. He wants to be a positive force in the community and make positive change.

Hardesty mentioned more than once how fortunate he felt that Farrell was the officer who saved him because of his paramedic background. He received immediate treatment because Farrell knew what to do.

“I was happy to meet him (at ceremony) and support him,” Hardesty said. “I will never forget him.”

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com