Miracles and SCRMC Make Dennis Keveryn’s Dream Possible.

	Dennis Keveryn was recently named to the Salvation Army board of directors and is as an advocate for abused children. This is possible, Dennis says, because of the “outstanding job done by Dr. Singh and the staff at the Wellness Center and hospital.”

It all happened on an April evening in 2003, while Dennis was serving as Laurel’s city administrator.

“I was at South Central’s Wellness Center after work and I’d been working out on the stair step machine. I had been on the treadmill for 10 to 15 minutes—I do it every day—and suddenly I collapsed. When I woke up, I was in the hospital,” says Dennis.

Doctor Provides CPR in the Nick of Time
“I suffered sudden cardiac death. I literally died,” he says. Dr. Ramesh Singh, a neurologist at Jefferson Medical Associates, had just completed his workout and was cooling down when he saw Dennis collapse. Not a single minute lapsed before Dr. Singh began providing CPR. He continued providing the lifesaving technique until an ambulance arrived.

“Dennis turned from white to yellow to navy blue and foam was coming out of his mouth,” says his wife, Janet.

“I was out several minutes. The doctors at the hospital and at St. Dominic’s in Jackson said that it was just a miracle that I made it and didn’t have severe brain damage,” says Dennis.

Dennis says that he’s here due to Dr. Singh and a young man who works at the Wellness Center, Joel McCarty, who found that he had no pulse and called 911.

“They got me to the emergency room, and whatever they did there was perfect,” says Dennis.

SCRMC Staff “Do Good Stuff”
Dennis adds that he has gone by the hospital and the Emergency Department at South Central and what he told them was, “You people do good stuff. It’s important. I wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t put me back together. Keep it up. Keep doing it.”

Dennis’ Deal with God
Dennis worked with Chevron Oil for 33 years, seven of them in the San Francisco headquarters.

“I always wanted to have a certain amount of money that I could put my hands on and I knew that if I did that, then I’d retire and do something worthwhile. I wanted to work with kids. I could not watch the Special Olympics without crying.”

“I told God that now I was going to retire and do His work. I talked to Mayor Susan Vincent and other people in Laurel. Jerry Myrick was retiring as city administrator. People asked me, why don’t you come back here and apply for that job? So I did, but I agreed to only work the three additional years left on Susan Vincent’s term.”

“I said, ‘Lord, I’m still young, just let me work three more years, and then I’ll do what you want me to do.’”

Then, Susan Vincent got reelected.

“Now, with city, county and state government jobs—if you work at least four years and if you’re 60, you get a little retirement. So, I said, ‘Just give me one more year, Lord, and then I’ll do what you want.’”

Dennis says that he continued to put off what he had promised God that he’d do. There’s a good reason, he’d tell God, and it will only be for a short time–to get the pension, to finish paying off the house, for the money to buy out his brother’s share of a house they’d inherited, and to pay cash for a Jeep.

“Each time, I told God, ‘I know we had a deal but just let me work a little longer. And then I’ll do what I promised.’”

“On the morning of April 30, I went to the mayor’s office and told Susan that I was willing to work another two years.”

“It was like God said to me, ‘Buddy, we had a deal. You have kept wanting more and have been putting off and now, buddy, I’m getting your attention.’”

“That night, He did. I never leave work early. In five years with the city, not five times did I ever leave before six. But that night I left work at 5:30 and went to the Wellness Center. Dr. Singh was cooling off under a vent. Another two or three minutes and he would have been gone.”

Dennis Now Believes in Miracles
“It was like the Lord said, ‘I’m going to make this so miraculous, so phenomenal, that you’ll know that it was me.’ I’m not a miracle type of guy, but nobody will ever make me believe that what happened to me wasn’t a miracle.”

“I never work out with my husband,” Janet says. “I had probably done so seven times in four years. But I went to the Wellness Center late that afternoon. I walked up to Dennis on the treadmill and I saw him hit the floor.”

“The doctors at the hospital did what they do best—save lives,” says Janet.

Janet says that since that night, every moment has become precious and that she has come to appreciate the time she has with Dennis.

“I don’t want any more money,” Dennis says. “I’m a Christian. I’m 61 years old and with the time I have left I want to do a lot of volunteer work.”

Dennis was recently named to the Salvation Army board of directors, and now he’s finding fulfillment as an advocate for abused children.

This is possible, Dennis says, because of the “outstanding job done by Dr. Singh and the staff at the Wellness Center and hospital.”

As many as one out of five sudden cardiac deaths occur in public places—where a bystander could have helped until emergency medical services arrived. Would you know what to do in a life-or-death situation? Learn how to save a life in one of SCRMC’s CPR courses. Visit our online Events Calendar at www.scrmc.com.

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