First Aid Corps

District Court Officer Richard Fielding dashed out of the court foyer and around to the Washington Street parking lot where he found a woman crying over Travis Buckless, 25, who lay sprawled and unconscious on the asphalt.

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“He was not breathing and turning blue. I thought he was dead,” said Fielding, who immediately began administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation to Buckless.

Richard Fielding (right) the Saviour

Court officers Joseph Piknick and Susan Ruiz quickly joined Fielding and prepared to use defibrillator equipment to revive Buckless.

Chief Court Officer John Nerich also ran to the lot and used an “ambu” breathing aid device on Buckless.

“We continued with CPR until Lynn Fire and Rescue came,” Fielding said.

As he walked off to an ambulance for a precautionary trip to the hospital, a firefighter pointed to Fielding and told Buckless, “You should thank that guy.” Buckless obliged.

Fielding, a nine-year court security veteran with six years service in Lynn, discounted his role in the rescue, preferring to credit co-workers.

“It was a team effort.”

Off-duty Bonita Springs firefighter John Kutz, 26, was participating in a pickup hockey game when a 56-year-old man collapsed on the ice at Germain Arena.

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Kutz said the man began turning blue and was unresponsive.

John Kutz the Saviour

“I took off his helmet, opened his airway, checked for pulses, didn’t get any of that. Then just started CPR on him and then called for the AED and the guys knew where it was – thank God they had one. We shocked him one time, then continued CPR after that and the guy kind-of woke up a little bit.”

“His eyes opened and he pushed our hands away from him,” Kutz said.

Kutz reported that the victim was breathing when Estero Fire rescuers arrived on the scene and began performing advanced life support on the man, while Kutz assisted.

By the time Lee County Emergency Management Services arrived, Kutz said the man was “almost fully alert.”

Lee County Emergency Management Services took the man to Lee Memorial, said Debbi Redfield, spokeswoman for Bonita Springs Fire district.

Kutz also noted that well-trained Estero responders and his training might have saved the victim’s life.

“It was just a job well done by everyone,” he said.

Walter Peaston, a retired 69-year old medical doctor, collapsed while he worked out on a rowing machine for the community health project at Galleon Centre in Kilmarnock.

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But a quick-thinking cardiac nurse Gillian Mitchell, 31, and an off-duty fireman Kenny McGill, 35, carried out CPR on the stricken medic as gym staff raced to find a defibrillator.

He said: “He hadn’t been breathing for at least four minutes, maybe five, and there was no pulse. He was blue.

“I knew there was a heart defibrillator in the centre and I shouted to staff to get it.”

Moments later, fitness instructor Nathan Mobey arrived with the defibrillator and shocked him back to life.

Kenny said: “The guy just let out a scream and bizarrely that meant he was okay. He only believed he’d been passed out for a few seconds.”

Paramedics rushed Walter to Crosshouse Hospital after Thursday’s drama and last night he was described as being in a stable condition.

Kenny added: “It’s fortunate that both Gillian and I work for the emergency services. He’s a lucky, lucky man.”

Larry Collins was running sanding equipment when he was shocked at 2:04 p.m. Monday at Finished Metal Technologies, 3365 John F. Donnelly Drive, deputies said.

A co-worker managed to push him away from the machine and other workers started CPR on Collins.

When deputies arrived, he had no pulse and was not breathing, sheriff’s Lt. Mike Brookhouse said.

“We put the AED (defibrillator) on him. Within 30 seconds of it going off, he kind of started moving and breathing,” Brookhouse said.

All Ottawa County sheriff’s cruisers have portable AED units in their trunks, Brookhouse said.

“It saved this guy’s life. He is the luckiest guy around,” Brookhouse said.

Collins was taken to Holland Hospital to be treated.

Collins’ brother, Bob, described the situation as “touch and go” for a while, but said his brother was conscious and talking after being revived.

“He was putting up a fight about going to the hospital,” he said.

It was around 10:25 a.m. on Saturday at the R.J. Kennedy Memorial Arena in Cumberland and Roch Leduc, Ottawa paramedic superintendent, was waiting for his wife to arrive when a 20-year-old man collapsed on the playing surface.

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The (game) became all quiet suddenly,” said Leduc. “I saw the individual on the ground and I figured maybe he had tripped or some-thing.”

He said 10 to 12 long seconds went by and still the man wasn’t moving. That’s when his focus became squarely on the downed player. I thought to myself, ‘OK, now get up,’ but he didn’t.”

One of the other players waved for help and Leduc jumped from his seat. As he got closer, it became apparent there was a serious problem.

“When I put him on his back, I noticed he had no pulse, he wasn’t breathing and so I started doing chest compression.”

As he was performing CPR, someone went to the rink attendant, who ran over with the arena’s defibrillator.

I grabbed the package from her, opened it up and placed the pads on the man. We delivered a shock and did CPR for another minute or so. The machine automatically analyzed the situation and delivered a second shock.

We carried on and then he started blinking his eyes and moaning and groaning, so I stopped and checked for a pulse. He was breathing on his own and had a good pulse.”

Leduc said as much as four minutes might have passed before the man breathed again.

It was close.” As if the patient wasn’t already lucky enough to have a paramedic in the arena, Leduc was only there because his wife was running a little late. I was waiting 10 minutes for my wife to arrive, otherwise I wouldn’t have been there at all.”

By the time an advanced care paramedic unit arrived, the man was awake and talking.

He was taken to hospital, where his status was upgraded from life-threatening condition to stable condition.