Medical reports last year called into question the effectiveness of giving CPR, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, to heart attack victims.

On May 6, two iron workers showed that sometimes, CPR works, and it's a procedure worth knowing.

Brothers Dan and Brian Foco, working for Whaley Steel at an ethanol plant in Caro, revived a bolt supplier after he dropped in front of Dan. The brothers gave the victim mouth to mouth resuscitation and chest compressions for eight to ten minutes until emergency medical technicians arrived and used a defibrillator to revive the man. He was transported to a hospital, and his prognosis is good.

The 46-year old victim "had a funny look on his face, and then he just collapsed," said Dan Foco, 40, a foreman on the project. "I knelt next to him, and felt his pulse, but he didn't have one. And he was already turning blue. So I told another foreman to call 911, and I called my brother over, and then we started CPR."

Three different times the man started breathing on his own during the CPR, but each time he stopped a short time later. Dan Foco, who was doing the mouth to mouth, said he was nauseated when the victim vomited (a common occurance) but continued out of a strong desire to save the man's life and the verbal encouragement of his co-workers.

"Without their help, the victim probably wouldn't have survived," said Randy Gerber, vice president of Mobile Medical Response, the ambulance company that responded to the incident. "Using CPR, they were probably able to circulate just enough oxygen and blood to keep the victim from getting brain damage. It's true that CPR doesn't always work, but it did this time. That's important to the victim, and it's a big deal to us."

Gerber said he's looking into getting a citation awarded to the Foco brothers for the great deed they did.

Iron workers are taught CPR as part of their training, and Brian had recently re-certified. And remarkably, Dan had the opportunity to perform CPR about eight years ago, but that victim died.

"That's something you don't forget, and I could see it happening all over again," Dan said. "People say that CPR training is no big deal. But I've used it twice now. I feel really good about what happened."