{"id":7832,"date":"2025-07-27T20:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T20:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7832"},"modified":"2025-07-27T20:30:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T20:30:00","slug":"in-the-right-place-at-the-right-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7832","title":{"rendered":"In the right place at the right time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"tni-source-date\"><strong>Originally published:<\/strong> 2025-07-27T20:30:00+00:00. Historical source article: benefits, rules, amounts and deadlines may have changed. Check the official source for current information.<\/p>\n<p>One winter Friday night, the atmosphere at the CrossFit Hydro in Omaha, Nebraska, was electric. Its \u201cFriday Night Lights\u201d is a weekly event where local CrossFitters participate in the worldwide CrossFit Open.<\/p>\n<p>It was supposed to be just another night of pushing limits and cheering, but for Peter Soby, it became the night he got a second chance at life.<\/p>\n<p>Soby was working out side-by-side with Lydia Meece, a physician at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.va.gov\/nebraska-western-iowa-health-care\/locations\/omaha-va-medical-center\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Omaha VA Medical Center<\/a>. The workout was grueling\u2014burpees, lunges and heavy lifts.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI remember the clock said eight minutes. I still had seven minutes to go,\u201d recalled Soby. He finished his workout, sat on the floor to catch his breath, exchanged a few high-fives\u2014and then everything went black.<\/p>\n<p>The next moments were chaos\u2014but also orderly. A fellow athlete noticed Soby gasping and convulsing. The other athlete rushed over, called for help and the gym\u2019s community sprang into action.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The right team<\/h2>\n<p>Among those present were an ER doctor, an ER nurse, a former Army medic, a medical equipment specialist and Dr. Meece. Together, they formed an impromptu emergency response team that even seasoned professionals would later say operated better than some emergency rooms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey said it was like watching an episode of ER,\u201d Soby said later. \u201cEveryone just clicked into their professional mode. They weren\u2019t CrossFitters anymore. They were lifesavers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The team started CPR immediately, even though everyone had just finished an exhausting workout. Dr. Meece retrieved the gym\u2019s automated external defibrillator, or AED, carefully followed the prompts and delivered the critical shocks Soby\u2019s heart needed.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks to the team\u2019s and Dr. Meece\u2019s efforts, Soby\u2019s heart started beating again before the paramedics arrived.<\/p>\n<p>In the ambulance, one of the medics told him simply, \u201cYou\u2019ve got great friends. They just saved your life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Soby underwent triple bypass surgery a week later for what is commonly known as the \u201cwidow-maker\u201d heart attack. Statistically, only 12% of people survive such an event when it strikes outside of a hospital setting.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI credit the <a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/140624\/why-caregivers-for-veterans-should-know-cpr\/\">CPR <\/a>and the AED. And the fact that these amazing people didn\u2019t hesitate,\u201d Soby said. \u201cEverything clicked into place because they were ready.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Meece reflected on the importance of continuous training. \u201cAs an attending physician, I don\u2019t always personally run codes anymore, but because of the training at VA, I had practiced these skills just a few months before. It made all the difference. I wasn\u2019t just relying on old knowledge\u2014I had muscle memory.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Soby, now in cardiac rehab, carries a profound sense of gratitude\u2014not only for the team that saved him, but for the broader community of health professionals who dedicate their lives to training, preparing and responding when it matters most.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMedicine doesn\u2019t get enough credit,\u201d Soby said. \u201cFor them, saving lives is just part of the job. But to people like me, it\u2019s everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"tni-attribution\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/141322\/in-the-right-place-at-the-right-time\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs<\/a>. Its Veterans is an independent publication and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Omaha VA Medical Center Physician, Dr. Lydia Meece, received an award from VA for using her emergency training at the right time to save a life during a CrossFit competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":339,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-veterans-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>In the right place at the right time - Its Veterans<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Omaha VA Medical Center Physician, Dr. Lydia Meece, received an award from VA for using her emergency training at the right time to save a life during a CrossFit competition.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7832\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In the right place at the right time - 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