Tucson airman to be feted for life-saving effort

An airman at Davis-Monthan is being feted for his efforts in helping save a man who collapsed on a Tucson soccer field in September.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Chris Rickenbach, a lead firefighter and EMT on the base, was playing soccer at Kino Sports Complex, a regular Sunday activity in which he plays with other airmen and spouses through the Tucson Metropolitan Soccer League, when he jumped into action after hearing a call for help.

A 52-year-old man on another field had collapsed. Rickenbach ran over and took over the CPR.

He and two other medical professionals — a doctor and a paramedic — worked to bring the man’s pulse back.

The Tucson Fire Department soon arrived and Rickenbach worked with the crew to provide information, get the man oxygen and place an IV to help save the man’s life.

For his efforts that day, the Red Cross Certificate of Merit will be awarded to Rickenbach at a ceremony Tuesday, Feb. 4 at El Conquistador Tucson, 1000 N. Oracle Rd.

The certificate is an award within the Red Cross Life Saving Awards Program that’s specific to those who are Red Cross trained or are off-duty first responders.

CPR is an important skill that everyone should know, said Mike Sagara, the interim regional communications director for American Red Cross of Arizona & New Mexico.

The organization encourages everyone to become trained in CPR so more people can be prepared for emergencies.

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“Rather than just driving by or walking by or not knowing what to do, they’ll be able to take action and do something,” Sagara said.

And that might have been the reason Rickenbach was able to help save the man.

Rickenbach said that the bystander than initiated CPR before the medical professionals ran over could have been the reason the man’s survived.

He said he has seen civilians who don’t work in healthcare, referred to by fire fighters as lay people, perform CPR and keep someone alive long enough for medical support.

“Even if it isn’t the highest quality of CPR, it’s something, it’s helping keep that person alive,” Rickenbach said. “if everybody in Tucson knew CPR, it would make our jobs a million times more successful.”

Rickenbach comes from a military family. His wife, Staff Sgt. Zoe Rickenbach, is a resource advisor on the base.

His stepfather recently retired from the Air Force, where he worked in aircraft maintenance. His biological father was an Army reservist.

Rickenbach says he always knew he wanted to be in the military. He grew up as an Air Force brat and did his last year of high school at the Yokota Air Base in Tokyo where he shadowed the fire department and fell in love with the career.

“There are not very many jobs in the world where you drive around in a big red fire truck and kids wave and smile at you,” Rickenbach said. “There was nothing else in the world that I wanted to do.”