Archive for June, 2010
Retired paramedic Anthony Edison, off-duty firefighters Paul Fudge and Darrell Dalley and respiratory technician Gina Andrews were attending a social event on Dec. 4, 2009 at the local fire station with colleagues and friends when one of the guests suddenly collapsed.
Paul Fudge, Anthony Edison, Gina Andrew & Darrell Dalley the Saviours
Mr. Edison said he was chatting with Augustus Lewis, a retired fire captain in his early 80s, when “all of sudden, he just dropped to the floor. So, I got down there and started an assessment on him and found that he had no pulse, no respirations and with that we started CPR (cardio-respiratory resuscitation).”
Mr. Edison then told the duty fire officer in the radio room to call for an ambulance. He said a defibrillator and oxygen were taken off one of the fire trucks, an airway tube was inserted and Andrews took over the respirations.
Mr. Fudge took control of the defibrillator, and Mr. Edison and Mr. Dalley took turns doing chest compressions.
“We worked on him, Paul got a shock in on him and we got him back from there,” Mr. Edison said.
“It felt wonderful,” he said, when they realized they had saved his life. Mr. Edison said Mr. Lewis has since had an internal defibrillator implanted in his chest and is doing well. “He just got back from two weeks in Cuba, so it worked out good,” he said.
Mr. Fudge said he felt good after the experience, especially since it was someone they all knew. “If you’re going to have a heart attack, that’s the place to have one,” at the firehall, he joked.
Mr. Dalley said knowing that MR. Lewis was doing well days after the event was a great feeling.
Ms. Andrews said she also felt wonderful, but is used to doing this type of thing every day, “just not out of the hospital” where she works as a respiratory technician.
