I had been a registered nurse for 10 years and was working in the emergency department of a 250-bed community hospital in Ohio on Christmas Eve. It was 1994 and I was assigned to the “Code Blue” team that day, which meant I could be called upon to provide care anywhere in the hospital so long as I had the portable defibrillator.  I heard the page around 1 p.m. Code Blue – visitor parking lot. I figured someone had slipped on the ice, but grabbed the equipment and made my way to the main entrance of the hospital and ran outside.   There, on the grass, was an unconscious female struggling to breathe. She had turned blue around the face and neck, with blotchy red marbling over ...