Cindi Rinehart-Brooks talks about her heart stopping with all of the romance that she brought to her position recapping soap operas on Northwest Afternoon for many years.
“These handsome men carried me on a stretcher through the snow,” said Rinehart-Brooks. “I felt like Snow White.”
The truth was a bit more serious than that. During a bad snowstorm in 2019, her husband Jim Brooks called 911 when Cindi’s heart had stopped. Jim performed CPR long enough to unlock the door for paramedics after Cindi regained consciousness. The next time she passed out, paramedics were there with a defibrillator to shock her heart before taking her to the hospital.
“One thing that stuck with me was how much they cared,” said Jim Brooks. “That made me feel good especially when you’re watching them work on someone you love so much.”
Brooks said he was touched to see Brian Dyste, the South Kitsap Fire and Rescue Paramedic who had responded to the call, walk out of Cindi’s room the next day. Dyste had been checking to see how she was doing.
The family has called 911 twice more for Cindi – a stroke a few months later and then a seizure last year. Cindi says that she doesn’t remember much of those events, but she’s glad that South Kitsap Fire and Rescue has an EMS program with a such a fast, professional response.
“Jimmy and I celebrated 30 years of marriage last August,” she said. “I’m glad we both were around to see that.”