SPIRIT LAKE - Don Kobaly had just voted and returned home last month when - boom - he blacked out and collapsed.

The next thing the Spirit Lake man remembers was waking up in the hospital five days later.

Doctors believe Kobaly, 71, survived a cardiac episode referred to as tachycardia, a heartbeat that's too fast.

Kobaly said he would have been a "goner" if it hadn't been for the rapid response from police and medics in Spirit Lake and the Northern Lakes Fire Protection District.

"I'm delighted," Kobaly said. "I owe them so much. The police started and the EMTs took it from there. The teams augmented each other well."

Spirit Lake police Sgt. Jeremy McMillen and Officer Greg Marshall, who were first on scene, were honored with Life Saving Awards during Tuesday night's city council meeting.

The two and other responders - including Spirit Lake Fire's Andy Hill, Chris Robinson and Roger Adams, and Northern Lakes' Cody Moore and Jarrod Pitts - will be honored on Thursday as the Crew of the Month by Kootenai County EMS.

When the two police arrived, Kobaly was unresponsive and there was no measurable heartbeat, according to the police department.

They attempted to wake Kobaly with a sternum rub, a technique to stimulate consciousness. When that didn't work, they pulled him from a small bathroom to the living room. McMillen began chest compressions, while Marshall continued to palpate Kobaly's carotid and radial arteries searching for a pulse.

Shortly after starting CPR, the medics arrived and took over. After 15 minutes of chest compressions and several shocks using an automated external defibrillator (AED), Kobaly regained a heartbeat and was rushed to Kootenai Health.

Kobaly said his son, David, who was at the home when he collapsed, also deserves praise for calling 911.

"He got the ball rolling," Kobaly said. "Thank goodness for quick action."

Kobaly said he's in shape and exercises at a gym, so his ordeal came as surprise.

He said the episode makes him confident that his taxpayer dollars are being well-spent.

"If that group would have been out on another call, I may not have been as lucky," Kobaly said. "One of the doctors told my wife that I received amazing emergency care, so it was critically important."