First Aid Corps

We will be reporting on lives saved around the world since our first documented life saved here in Singapore.

Hadden Graham Saved

Hadden Graham, 55, who is the former treasurer and chairman of Marlborough Rugby Club, was in charge of the Dorset and Wiltshire League match at Westbury Sports Centre when he collapsed after 35 minutes. 

Westbury players Paul Jones, who works as a nurse, and Matt Inseal, a trained first responder, used a defibrillator and carried out CPR on the pitch.

The Wiltshire Air Ambulance arrived at the scene at about 3.30pm and took the Marlborough man to the Royal United Hospital in Bath.

County president of the Dorset and Wiltshire RFU, Ron Jones, whose son was one of the players to give first aid to Mr Graham, said: “The club are very pleased and proud with the way the two players acted.

“Although it was my son who was involved I don’t know much about the incident because I haven’t spoken to him as he’s just returned from his honeymoon. All I know is that my son and his team-mate performed CPR on the man before the air ambulance arrived.

“Its just one of those things. I’ve never heard of a referee or player suffering a heart attack on the pitch but I’m sure it has happened before.

Charlie Sheppy, Marlborough Rugby Club Chairman, is a close friend of Mr Graham. He said: “Thank God there was a medic on the pitch playing and he knew there was a defibrillator at the Westbury Leisure Centre and they administered CPR and got his heart going again.”

But on Monday Mr Sheppy said: “I understand he is now awake and aware of what is going on around him.”

We will be reporting on lives saved around the world since our first documented life saved here in Singapore.

Adam Davis and Cindy Rossi, with the AED

An 87-year-old Jonesboro man was in the right place at the right time, and now he will be able to celebrate the holidays with his family and friends.

Just before 2 p.m., three days before Thanksgiving, Carlton Look was experiencing chest pains and went to Dr. David Rioux’s medical office, where staff told him to go directly to the emergency room at Down East Community Hospital because Rioux was not in.

Look and his wife, Lenita left the office, and Lenita returned to say that Carlton had passed out.

At about the same time, Washington County Regional Communication Center dispatcher Adam Davis, who also is a part-time deputy, had just come out of the doctor’s office. He was there with his son to see his son’s pediatrician. When Davis went to his vehicle, he saw Look slumped forward in his vehicle.

“At first I didn’t know if he was asleep,” Davis said Monday. “I went to go around the truck, and all kinds of people came running out of the doctor’s office.”

Jill McDonald, a registered nurse, checked Look and found no pulse. She also noted he was not breathing.

McDonald and Theresa Parent, a nurse at the hospital, were able to get Look out of his vehicle and started cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Physician’s assistant Alf Wakeman and pediatrician Dr. Richard Gibbs joined them.

“I asked if they had an AED [automatic external defibrillator],” Davis said. Farren brought one from the doctor’s office.

Davis told the medical staff that he had recently been recertified in the use of a defibrillator. They told him to set it up, while they continued CPR. It was the first time he had used it on a person, he said.

There was no question that the medical staff knew how to use the defibrillator, but they were busy administering CPR, Mike Hinerman, director of the Washington County Emergency Management Agency, said Monday.

“Adam was free to set the AED up.”

Once the machine was hooked up to Look, its instruments indicated to Davis that the patient needed to be shocked.

One shock by the machine did it, and Look regained a pulse.

“They had a pulse monitor out there; he had an almost normal pulse by that point,” Davis said.

An ambulance took Look to the Machias hospital.

Carlton not only had a pulse, but he was actually talking at the [emergency room] in Machias.

Rossi said she was proud of Davis. “It takes an unselfish person to respond and do this type of thing,” she said.

We will be reporting on lives saved around the world since our first documented life saved here in Singapore.

Jim McCallister, a retired grocery store owner and pillar of the Babson Park community, was attending the annual “Breakfast With Santa” event at the Dale R. Fair Babson Park Elementary School with his great-granddaughter when he collapsed Saturday morning. 

When McCallister collapsed, Assistant Principal Elizabeth Tyler rushed to the cabinet where the defibrillator was stored.

She said two parents attending the event – Cori Rowles, who is a nurse, and Alan Skipper, a retired Polk County Sheriff’s Office employee – began CPR.

While Tyler has been trained in using the defibrillator, she turned it over to Rowles who has more experience.

Henson said McCallister responded and later apologized for creating a scene.

“I’ve never been more thankful for a piece of equipment,” Principal Ken Henson said.

“When we went through the training, we didn’t want to use it,” Henson said. “I was very thankful to have the automatic defibrillator.”

We will be reporting on lives saved around the world since our first documented life saved here in Singapore.

Michelle MacIntosh, left, and John Dunn meet with emergency medical dispatcher April Campbell

For all intents and purposes, he died that night. Right there in his bed, sleeping. He is 45 and a father. Healthy. Fit. A runner, volunteer firefighter, hockey player and a guy whose greatest decadence is cream with his coffee.

Dave’s story Around 3:15 a. m., the peace of the night is shattered by a noise so loud, so strange it wakes up Michelle.

It’s John. Is he snoring? No. He’s on his back, rocking. His arms and legs pull in and out in a fetal position. Is he having a nightmare?

She pushes herself up to her knees and shakes his shoulders. “John,” she shouts. Before she can shake him again, his body goes limp and he collapses into the bed.

“I could feel him leaving,” she says. “I could feel him die.”

She grabs him again and shakes his shoulders. Harder. She prays that he wakes up, but there is no response. Then, with all the strength she can muster, she hits him square in the chest with the base of her hand. He takes in a long, funny breath.

He had no pulse. He was not breathing.

Thing is, his partner in life couldn’t just let him go without a fight. They’ve been together for just three years, yet feel like high school sweethearts. Between them, they have three children. Three very important reasons for living.

So, 39-year-old Michelle MacIntosh fought back.

Michelle MacIntosh, 39, is a counsellor and life coach who in the early morning hours of Nov. 1 became the lifeline for her partner, 45- year-old John Dunn.

She called 911. On the other end of the line was a woman whose voice she will never forget.

“What’s your name,” asks the woman.

“April,” answers the voice on the other end of the phone.

“I’m Michelle,” the woman says. “You need to help me save his life.”

April Campbell is an emergency medical dispatcher with Niagara EMS. April taught Michelle how to do CPR (cardio pulmonary resuscitation). She was the calm in a chaotic night.

The cordless phone is wedged between Michelle’s ear and shoulder. She is kneeling on the bed beside John. Pushing on his chest. Counting each compression out loud.

Michelle is a manual life support machine. John’s first life support.

Michelle can hear the rumble of the fire truck outside her home. She runs to unlock her door. At her doorstep are four firefighters from Station 3, Captain Ron Baerg and firefighters Dave Merry, Eric Farlow and Kevin Beamer.

Eric begins CPR. Compressions. Dave gets the defibrillator ready. Puts the pads on John’s chest. Kevin gets the BVM, a bag valve mask, in place.

Paramedics Trevor, Adam and Evan arrive. John’s heart is in ventricular fibrillation, shaking like a bowl of Jello.

John is defibrillated once. One shock. His quivering, chaotic heart returns to a normal rhythm.

He starts to chew and spit up the airway firefighters had put in. He breathes on his own. He has a pulse.

Sunday morning. John is conscious. Doctors pull the breathing tube out of his mouth. Michelle watches with John’s 14-year-old son, Kurt.

It has made them stronger. Closer. “I look at Michelle and I feel like I’ve known her forever,” says John.

“I feel like she was my high school sweetheart.”

We will be reporting on lives saved around the world since our first documented life saved here in Singapore.

At around 4:50 p.m. on Friday, police responded to Stop & Shop Plaza on Cranberry Highway for reports of a person who had fallen and was not breathing.

Sgt. John Walcek and Officers Bryan Whalen and Christopher Smith were the first on the scene and immediately administered CPR and delieverd two shocks from their automated external defibrillator before an ambulance arrived.

The victim, Paul Almond, 76, of Bourne, was breathing and had a pulse when EMS personnel arrived.

He was taken to Tobey Hospital, but was no longer listed as a patient by Saturday morning.

Wareham firefighter Scott Drum and Officer Mike Smith assisted at the scene.