A cardiac-arrest rescue in Highlands Ranch is drawing attention to a basic but consequential question: what happens when a bystander starts CPR before professional help arrives? Brent Buford, 68, was receiving chemotherapy for stage 4 lung cancer when he noticed a black jacket and a man lying face down near overgrown bushes across from an elementary school, Axios reported.
Buford called 911 and began chest compressions on 36-year-old Alex Flordelis. Firefighters and paramedics found a pulse after Buford had started CPR, according to Axios. Flordelis was later diagnosed with an hereditary heart condition that had not previously been identified; his doctor told Axios that the rapid response helped prevent permanent brain damage.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and South Metro Fire Rescue recognized Buford at a ceremony earlier this week in Douglas County, where Flordelis also attended and thanked him, Axios reported. Buford works as a civilian statutory programs specialist for the Sheriff’s Office. The available reporting does not establish whether an automated external defibrillator was used; the documented intervention was the 911 call and bystander CPR.
Why the first minutes matter
Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is difficult to survive even when emergency systems respond. The Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival, or CARES, reports a median survival-to-hospital-discharge rate of 10.4% and says that figure has remained virtually unchanged for 30 years. CARES’s network covered approximately 186 million people, or 56% of the U.S. population, as of January 2025: CARES data provide broad national context, not a specific outcome estimate for Flordelis…