We will be reporting on lives saved around the world since our first documented life saved here in Singapore.
Vincent T. DiFilippo Saved
The Silver Spring Twp. supervisor slumped over the papers spread on his desk.
DiFilippo, 51, had just suffered an apparent heart attack during Wednesday night’s supervisors meeting.
When DiFilippo collapsed, fellow Supervisor Mary Lou Pierce-McLain grabbed him from one side and secretary Sue Ellen Adams reached for the other. He didn’t respond.
Chairwoman Jan LeBlanc shouted DiFilippo’s name, and a standing-room-only audience froze as he lay unconscious on the floor.
Not Jerry McAteer.
McAteer, an Annville EMT, was at the meeting on behalf of his employer, Delta Development.
The Army veteran, whose military specialty was dismantling explosives, didn’t hesitate when DiFilippo collapsed. Pushing others aside, he rushed to the fallen man.
Throwing himself to his knees, McAteer began cardio-pulmonary resuscitation. Before an ambulance crew arrived, about 10 minutes into the attack, McAteer and township police staff, Chief Jim Sadler, Detective Dale Sabadash, Sgt. Leroy Hippensteel and Patrolman Steve Grunden repeatedly applied an automatic external defibrillator before reviving DiFilippo.
For nine seemingly interminable minutes, McAteer, Sabadish, police Chief Jim Sadler and others worked on DiFilippo who, according to LeBlanc, has had heart health problems.
As the AED was applied at least three times, LeBlanc and other township officials gathered in an anguished cluster. Developers, engineers, attorneys and township residents stood silent as the digital voice of the AED commanded rescuers to “Stand back.” “Check pulse.”
The hospital could not be reached for a comment on DeFilippo’s condition this morning.
Updates on 19/03/2009
“I was out for nine minutes. That’s beyond brain death. That I didn’t have brain damage is because of what Jerry did. He and the defibrillator saved my life,” DiFilippo said.
“I still have some discomfort in my chest, which I expect I’ll have for some time,” DiFilippo said.
“I’ve been given, for unknown reasons, a second chance to live, and I’m not going to waste that opportunity. I’m enjoying looking out my window at the birds, walking the dogs, washing the car, filling the bird feeder and spending time with my wife,” he said.
