First Aid Corps

Ross White, the manager of the Stephenville Dome, was sitting in his office doing some paperwork when he heard the alarm go off on the defibrillator cabinet and went to a window that overlooks the ice and noticed everyone gathered by the players’ box.

Ross White the Saviour

He immediately left his office and on the way down met Dave Boudreau, an employee at the arena, and told him to follow. They went over to the bench and that’s where this man was lying on the floor with Monty Drake and Brian Roberts, two of the hockey players, doing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on him.

“They told me what had happened, that the man had collapsed after getting off the ice and saying he wasn’t feeling so well, so I checked for breathing and a pulse, and not finding either, I got ready to use the automated external defibrillator on him,” he said.

This device basically tells you what to do according to White, so once the paddles were attached the machine informed him the man had no pulse and wasn’t breathing and to stand clear and get ready to shock him.

White said with this all done he pressed the button and the man jolted up and immediately regained consciousness. He said he only had to shock him once.

With a crowd gathered around it was difficult to hear the machine and he said it was great that Boudreau was repeating everything the machine had to say to him.

He said it was shortly after the ambulance arrived and the man was still conscious and brought to the Sir Thomas Roddick Hospital, where he has been since.

“It didn’t really feel like I had done anything extraordinary, but the more people talk about it the more I realize how close we were to losing him,” he said. I hope I never have to do it again, but it’s good to know the defibrillator is there if we need it.”

“I probably wouldn’t have said it before, but now after using the defibrillator — yes, it’s a very big deal when you see it save a person’s life,” White said.

Harvey Thien, a participant in Nanaimo’s senior scrub hockey program, collapsed unconscious on the bench at the Cliff McNabb Arena in Beban Park on April 9.

Fortunately, a number of retired firefighters, including Ted Greves and Keith MacDonald, were also playing hockey at the time and used one of the recently installed automated external defibrillators at the arena to resuscitate Thien.

Thien was airlifted to Victoria, where he underwent bypass surgery and is now recuperating.

“He looked to me like he was gone by the time we got to (Thien),” Greves said of the incident.

“Having that defibrillator close at hand saved his life because I don’t think he would have made it otherwise. It was wonderful to see him come back to life.

A man running the Boston Marathon Monday was saved by spectators and fellow athletes after he collapsed and suffered cardiac arrest.

Carleton Smith the Survivor

Carleton Smith, 64, collapsed and staggered to the ground at the intersection of Beacon and Mountfort streets in Kenmore Square at about 1:20 p.m. The location is less than two miles from the end of the race.

He fell to the ground in front of a group of health care professionals from the Dana Farber Cancer Institute who were cheering on the Dana Farber team.

Authorities say some of those spectators came to Smith's aid, giving him CPR.

An ambulance crew that was about 20 feet away, as well as a bike unit, responded, and used a defibrillator to revive him.

“It was an amazing feeling for me,” said EMT Ginelle Jimenez, who was part of the Boston EMS bicycle crew. “It was my first in-the-field save, so it was a moment. It was surreal,” she said.

Smith’s wife, Mary, said at mile 25 their son Jim, who was running with his father, asked his father if he was alright, Smith shook his head no, and fell to the ground.

“He was in full cardiac arrest,” said Boston EMS Lt. Carlos Grau. “He was not breathing, or a heartbeat, neither one of them.”

“A woman jumped over the barricade, and she and I started doing CPR,” said Jim Smith.

“It couldn’t have turned out better for this gentleman that we were right there, and that there were people right there on the scene who knew how to help him,” said EMT Kelly Cronin.

Mary Smith told WBZ that she and her daughter-in-law were at the finish line waiting for their spouses, but didn’t hear an initial phone call from police telling her what had happened.

Her daughter-in-law then got the call informing them of where Carleton and Jim were.

Smith had a stent put in an artery at the Beth Israel.

“He’s sitting and talking,” said Mary Smith. She says he has never had heart problems before, and has run several marathons, including Boston in 2007.

State Police Investigator Joshua Kean was returning to the Schodack station around 9 p.m. when he came upon two cars stopped on the side of the road with their hazard lights flashing, State Police said.

The motorists directed Kean to a man — later identified as 44-year-old Mark R. Mattice of Albany — lying on the shoulder of the road next to a bicycle.

Kean radioed for help, including a trooper with automated external defibrillator, while an off-duty State Park Police officer, Michael Maycheck, stopped at the scene to help Kean with CPR, State Police said.

Within minutes, two others, Trooper Patrick Hogan and Investigator Tim Northrup, arrived on the scene with a defibrillator. Northrup worked the defibrillator while the other three performed chest compressions on Mattice, troopers said.

EMS workers shocked Mattice twice, getting him to breath on his own. He was taken by ambulance to Albany Memorial Hospital.

Greg Long, 36, of Woodstock, a participant in the Shenandoah County Parks and Recreation Department’s 35-and-older men’s basketball league, went to substitute for a teammate after halftime, took three steps onto the court and instantly had a seizure, said his fiancee, Chastidy Romick.

Greg Long the Survivor

He tried to get up, took two deep breaths and quit breathing, turning blue, she said.

Players and county staff assigned to Central High School rushed to begin CPR.

“It felt like we were moving in slow motion,” said Terri Wymer, the gym supervisor in charge.

Rushing as fast as he could at the same time, Bill Simmons, a member of the team playing against Long’s squad, retrieved one of Central’s automated electronic defibrillators from a box mounted on the wall at the school’s entrance. A coach and teacher at Peter Muhlenberg Middle School, he, like other coaches, was trained to use the device in August.

The thinking, though, was that if there ever came a time to use the AED, it would not be on a healthy 36-year-old who had no known heart-related issues.

“Disbelief,” Simmons said.

With the help of others, he gave Long a shock before rescue personnel arrived and took control. They transported Long to Shenandoah Memorial Hospital and he was later transferred to Winchester Medical Center.

At SMH, Long was coherent but couldn’t remember anything, and complained only of his knees hurting, Romick said.

“It was definitely a joint effort on everybody’s part,” Wymer said.

“CPR wasn’t bringing him back,” Romick said. “Within 40 minutes [of getting shocked] he was talking to us. … If that defibrillator was not in there and someone was not there [trained] to use it, we would be planning his funeral right now.”.