Witnesses on Wednesday night said a fan who was in the school gym to watch Lenape and Kingsway compete in the holiday tournament collapsed about two minutes after the start of the game.
The man was helped onto the court surface where the game was stopped and rescue professionals in the stands rushed to his side.
Lenape school resource officer Pat Robey of the Medford Police Department and fellow officer Andy Haggerty, who performs the same duties at Shawnee, were among the first to reach the stricken fan.
Lenape athletic trainer Bill Von Leer ran across the court carrying the portable defibrillator that all Lenape District schools have on-site.
From the stands came Dr. Dave Fischman, who has a son on the Indians’ junior varsity team, and Luann Robertson, a registered nurse.
For close to 10 minutes, the five used all their abilities, including the defibrillator, oxygen and cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, to revive the unconscious fan.
Shortly before Medford Police, Medford Emergency Services and the Mobile Intensive Care Unit arrived, the silent gymnasium heard the words: “You’re all right. You’re going to be all right.”
The man regained consciousness and was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. His identity and condition were unknown Wednesday night.
“It was amazing to be here to watch all these guys do their jobs,” Lenape principal Tony Cattani said. “We’ve had the defibrillators in the district for about five years now. We’ve had people and classes when they graduate donate them to the schools. This is the first time we’ve had to use one here and to my knowledge, none of the other district schools has had to use one. All our administrators are trained with it. Some of our teachers are trained and all of our coaches are trained for it.”
Lenape’s athletic trainer also was pleased with the response.
“It was very nice the way everybody worked together,” Von Leer said. “The two officers, Pat and Andy, and Dr. Fischman and Mrs. Robertson all seemed to know their jobs perfectly. It just worked out really well.”
