According to the quick start rules, the heal check lets them use Second Wind. The problem we had is that all our healers (warlord, cleric, and paladin!) were downed, and they'd already used their Second Winds, so there didn't seem to be any way to revive them during the encounter. The wizard and I (the rogue) managed to finish off the few remaining enemies by "kiting" them with thrown daggers and Ray of Frost, but it was a terribly close thing. Since we'd stabilized them, we decided that they could recover normally by the out-of-combat healing rules after the encounter ended.