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TSO Acts Quickly When Colleague has Heart Attack

News & Happenings

April 2, 2007

TSO Gina Rossi thanks TSO Larry Coburn for helping save her life after she suffered a heart attack.
TSO Gina Rossi thanks TSO Larry Coburn for helping
save her life after she suffered a heart attack.

When a colleague at Colorado Springs (Colo.) Municipal Airport complained of chest pain, Transportation Security Officer Larry Coburn immediately took steps to save her life. Last week, TSO Gina Rossi was able to thank Coburn at an airport ceremony honoring his heroism last Christmas Eve day. Working at the exit lane, Coburn, trained as a safety officer with the Westcott (Colo.) Fire Department, recognized the symptoms of a potential heart attack and told the checkpoint to call 9-1-1. He kept Rossi calm and, at the direction of arriving paramedics, tracked Rossi's pulse rate.

Rossi did suffer a heart attack but last week she and her family joined Coburn and some 30 colleagues for the ceremony.

"Without his quick actions, I know I wouldn’t be here," Rossi said. "I had an angel with me that day, and it was Larry."

"We are grateful to Larry Coburn for his compassion and quick thinking," said Colorado Springs Federal Security Director Gary McCurdy. "His actions quite literally saved a life."