We lost a fellow musician...
RIP Mike Kaufman, percussionist of RIPCO, who passed away last night at RI Hospital after collapsing during rehearsal last night...
It was a really terrifying experience for all of us that were at rehearsal last night. This happened about 45 minutes into rehearsal (judging by the call log to Lindsay at 7:46pm). I didn't even notice that John, our conductor, had gotten off his podium even though I sit right in front of him (it's hard to see him when you're sitting first chair and looking at your music). Out of my peripheral vision I noticed Chuck get up and turn around very quickly. And then a couple more in the back row of winds and brass did the same.
Then I noticed that Mike was on the floor. Bruce, the third chair first violinist, who is a medical doctor of sorts, had quickly made his way over and had turned Mike on his side... He then asked, very calmly but with a sense of urgency in his voice, for someone to call 911. Even though they had turned him on his side, everyone in the room could hear that Mike was having trouble breathing... I had gotten up by this point but only made it as far as the first stand second violin. I wanted to give the people who knew what to do space and I could see just about everything from there... Kevin Kane, one of our trombonists, came running back into the room with a spoon, hopefully to help keep Mike from swallowing his tongue. They turned him back over onto his side -- his face was sheet white.
It was at this point that I decided to call Lindsay. She wasn't in the East Providence area so I quickly explained what had happened and she gave me some pointers of what I could do to help (elevating his feet, loosening anything that could be constricting blood flow, etc). Bruce with help of others tried to administer CPR (but it didn't really look like it...?) but he was unable to get a pulse and Mike's face started turning a red/bluish tint... Within 4 minutes of the first placed call to 911, the EMTs showed up.
5 male EMTs walked in quickly with a stretcher, oxygen and what looked like a defibrillator board? They administered CPR, I saw one of them rub his knuckles fiercely against his sternum (which is VERY painful), they tried to pump oxygen through his mouth and then they put paddles on his chest... They tried to jump start his heart twice with no response, they back boarded him, put him on the stretcher and wheeled him out with one of the younger EMTs standing on one of the rungs of the stretcher giving Mike CPR with his elbow... John had initially wanted to continue rehearsal with the strings but he ended up calling off the rest of rehearsal after that.
After the EMTs had left, someone announced that she was going to say a prayer for anyone that wanted to join her (Maybe it was Sara? I'm not sure) so a few people, including Laurette Vitello (who only joined us a few weeks ago) and didn't know Mike, joined her. I didn't know Mike well at all but it was scary all the same. I don't think many people outside of the music community understand how close of a bond a performing group will have to each other, regardless of how well we actually know each other.
My thoughts go out to his family... :'( I can't believe how quickly visitation hours and funeral arrangements were made. It kind of makes this whole thing hit home/official when those two are confirmed... The obituary page was emailed to us by John early this afternoon. You will be missed, Mike... http://www.andersonwinfield.net/obituaries.php
We can only hope that he died doing something he loved -- playing music. We were playing Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 17, "Little Russian,", the fourth movement: "Finale: Moderato assai - Allegro vivo." I've played this movement 2 or 3 times under Ann in the past. This brings a whole new meaning to this movement for myself and I hope that I don't have to play it again in the future...
I have some other things to update about but that will have to wait.
It was a really terrifying experience for all of us that were at rehearsal last night. This happened about 45 minutes into rehearsal (judging by the call log to Lindsay at 7:46pm). I didn't even notice that John, our conductor, had gotten off his podium even though I sit right in front of him (it's hard to see him when you're sitting first chair and looking at your music). Out of my peripheral vision I noticed Chuck get up and turn around very quickly. And then a couple more in the back row of winds and brass did the same.
Then I noticed that Mike was on the floor. Bruce, the third chair first violinist, who is a medical doctor of sorts, had quickly made his way over and had turned Mike on his side... He then asked, very calmly but with a sense of urgency in his voice, for someone to call 911. Even though they had turned him on his side, everyone in the room could hear that Mike was having trouble breathing... I had gotten up by this point but only made it as far as the first stand second violin. I wanted to give the people who knew what to do space and I could see just about everything from there... Kevin Kane, one of our trombonists, came running back into the room with a spoon, hopefully to help keep Mike from swallowing his tongue. They turned him back over onto his side -- his face was sheet white.
It was at this point that I decided to call Lindsay. She wasn't in the East Providence area so I quickly explained what had happened and she gave me some pointers of what I could do to help (elevating his feet, loosening anything that could be constricting blood flow, etc). Bruce with help of others tried to administer CPR (but it didn't really look like it...?) but he was unable to get a pulse and Mike's face started turning a red/bluish tint... Within 4 minutes of the first placed call to 911, the EMTs showed up.
5 male EMTs walked in quickly with a stretcher, oxygen and what looked like a defibrillator board? They administered CPR, I saw one of them rub his knuckles fiercely against his sternum (which is VERY painful), they tried to pump oxygen through his mouth and then they put paddles on his chest... They tried to jump start his heart twice with no response, they back boarded him, put him on the stretcher and wheeled him out with one of the younger EMTs standing on one of the rungs of the stretcher giving Mike CPR with his elbow... John had initially wanted to continue rehearsal with the strings but he ended up calling off the rest of rehearsal after that.
After the EMTs had left, someone announced that she was going to say a prayer for anyone that wanted to join her (Maybe it was Sara? I'm not sure) so a few people, including Laurette Vitello (who only joined us a few weeks ago) and didn't know Mike, joined her. I didn't know Mike well at all but it was scary all the same. I don't think many people outside of the music community understand how close of a bond a performing group will have to each other, regardless of how well we actually know each other.
My thoughts go out to his family... :'( I can't believe how quickly visitation hours and funeral arrangements were made. It kind of makes this whole thing hit home/official when those two are confirmed... The obituary page was emailed to us by John early this afternoon. You will be missed, Mike... http://www.andersonwinfield.net/obituaries.php
We can only hope that he died doing something he loved -- playing music. We were playing Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 17, "Little Russian,", the fourth movement: "Finale: Moderato assai - Allegro vivo." I've played this movement 2 or 3 times under Ann in the past. This brings a whole new meaning to this movement for myself and I hope that I don't have to play it again in the future...
I have some other things to update about but that will have to wait.