A Hawaii emergency room doctor and his team pulled a patient back from the brink after his heart stopped three separate times, a story that's good news for anyone who ends up in a Hawaii ER during a medical crisis.

• A man rushed to Straub Benioff Medical Center's ER with chest pain flatlined three times, but the medical team, including Dr. James Ham, kept doing CPR and compressions even while moving him toward the heart lab, keeping him alive.
• The patient survived and later met the doctor and team who saved him, giving his family a sense of closure and gratitude they wouldn't have had otherwise.
• Beyond the hospital, Dr. Ham has spent years volunteering in Papua New Guinea, training local police on first aid and tourniquets and helping bring clean water and prosthetic limbs to amputees in a region that's still fairly violent.
• He was honored at a Hawaii health care awards event for his work, though he credits his team and the hospital system rather than taking individual credit.

Outlook: Dr. Ham plans to keep splitting his time between emergency care in Hawaii and his ongoing humanitarian projects overseas.