First Aid Corps

A Colonie father was thankful Monday night for all the people who saved his 11-year-old boy’s life.

The young boy’s heart stopped after he was struck in the chest by a pitch during a little league game Monday night.

As we understand from the boy’s father his son is recovering at Albany Medical Center. He says he’s going to be just fine. Things could have been much worse if it were not for the quick action of the Colonie Little League.

“I just want to thank the coaches from Colonie little league,” said Mark Mendrick.

Words alone cannot express how he feels about the people who rushed to his son’s aid when the boy collapsed on the little league field at Cook Park in Colonie Monday night.

His 11-year-old boy went into cardiac arrest after he was hit in the chest by pitch during a little league game.

Prevratil, who also was the coach of the other team, was the first to begin CPR.

“There was no panic from anyone, no hysteria,” Prevratil said. “Everyone did exactly what they were supposed to do.”

The boy’s coach, Mike Martin, bolted from the dugout and realized the boy was having trouble breathing, Prevratil said.

When Prevratil saw the boy’s coach needed further assistance, he rushed from his own dugout. On his way to home plate, he heard someone from the stands shout, “Call 911!”

While Martin and Prevratil tended to the boy, he slipped out of consciousness. That’s when Prevratil began CPR.

Prevratil said he performed chest compressions for only about 30 seconds before police arrived.

Colonie Police officer Brian Curran was the first on the scene, and he continued CPR for another minute before the EMT team reached the boy with a defribrillator, Colonie Police Lt. Robert Winn said.

The boy’s heart restarted while he still was lying in the batter’s box, Prevratil said, and he was taken away by ambulance.

EMT’s took over using a defibrillator. They resuscitated the boy and rushed him to Albany Medical Center. Cardiologist doctor Jim O’Brian says what happened to the young player is extremely rare.

“He’s the classic age. It occurs in young boys when the pitch is hard but not so hard,” said O’Brian.

O’Brian says that causes agitation of the heart where the ball hits the chest at exactly the wrong time — disrupting the regular heartbeat. The boy, we’re told is lucky to be alive and doing ok.

“He’s got some hurdles to go. The rest of the kids are taking it fairly well. Some are too little to understand,” said Mendrick.

Meanwhile, Mendrick says he’s received emails from little leagues across the country, wishing for a speedy recovery.

His father told NewsChannel 13, the boy is already sitting up and asking when is he going to be back on the field.

A west-end gym teacher and his assistant are being credited with saving a Grade 12 student’s life after they used a defibrillator to revive the teenager, who had stopped breathing.

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Jeff Crewe, who teaches physical education at Weston Collegiate Institute, jumped into action Friday morning after 18-year-old Ajethan Ramachandranathan collapsed in the middle of class.

“I was standing at the doorway. Immediately, the other students in the class hollered to me and I ran over to him and looked at him, and he was gasping,” Mr. Crewe recalled. “I looked in his eyes and his eyes were rolled back a bit.”

Jeff Crewe the Saviour

Mr. Ramachandranathan, described by his sister as a tall, athletic teen, lay gasping on the floor as staff called 911. Student teacher Jessica Sung, who was on her last day of training with Mr. Crewe, rushed to fetch the defibrillator, and just in time: As they rolled Mr. Ramachandranathan into the recovery position, he stopped breathing.

At that point, Mr. Crewe said, they gave the 18-year-old a shock with the defibrillator, and continued with chest compressions until the young man began to gasp for breath again. Minutes later, paramedics arrived and took over.

“We train quite regularly for it but to put it into practice was something quite different,” Mr. Crewe said, noting the experience was “stressful, but once we found out the student was doing OK, I felt much better.”

At the time he collapsed, Mr. Ramachandranathan — who has no known heart or lung conditions — had stopped to chat with a fellow student after doing some “light activity,” principal Deborah Blair said.

“We have no idea why it happened,” she added.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Ramachandranathan remained in hospital, awaiting a transfer to Toronto General for tests to hopefully shed light on why he collapsed, said his sister, Sarmela Ramachandranathan. The family was both “shocked” by the incident and “grateful” at the quick response by staff, she said.

“He never had chest pains or anything, and we just get a phone call saying he collapsed,” Ms. Ramachandranathan recalled, noting her brother had not recovered a full memory of what happened that day.

For now, he is doing fine, reading books and keeping himself “as entertained as possible” during his hospital stay, she added.

“We’re very grateful,” Ms. Ramachandranathan added. “It’s amazing how things can happen in seconds, just like that.”

Ms. Blair praised the actions of Mr. Crewe and Ms. Sung, along with vice-principal Bernard Lee, who accompanied Mr. Ramachandranathan to the hospital and remained there for much of Friday to comfort the student’s family. Mr. Crewe reconvened his class afterward to debrief and allow students a chance to discuss their feelings on the incident, she added.

“One of the things that really struck me was how the staff responded so well to the situation and did everything that needed to be done to save a student’s life,” Ms. Blair said.

Ms. Blair also touted the value of defibrillator training, which teachers receive on an annual basis.

“When you think that even the one time, it saved someone’s life — it’s quite remarkable,” she said.

A man collapsed on the ice Monday night while playing recreational hockey at Twin Rinks in St. John’s, and an automated external defibrillator (AED) is being credited with keeping him alive.

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“Without that, I don’t think there would have been a chance in hell,” said Dr. Randy Smith, who happened to be in the building at the time and who gave him CPR.

It’s unclear exactly what happened to the man. Second-hand accounts say he was reaching for the puck when he suddenly collapsed onto the ice.

As of Tuesday afternoon he was in stable condition in hospital. Doctors were keeping him in a coma as they monitored his condition.

When contacted by The Telegram the man’s family asked that he not be identified.

However, the family did want to pass along their heartfelt thanks to the people who worked hard to save him.

“We do really appreciate everyone that had helped out. Because right now we probably wouldn’t be where we’re at (if not for them). We’d probably be somewhere else — you know what I mean?” said the man’s spouse.

She also provided the update on his condition and said the family was holding up all right under the circumstances.

“He’s not out of the woods, but we’ll just take it one day at a time. There’s lots of prayers being said and all that,” she said.

One of the first things she was told upon arriving at the hospital was that the use of the AED likely kept her husband alive long enough to get to the hospital.

“Without the defibrillator I don’t think he would be here,” she said.

Smith agrees.

A physician for more than 30 years, 15 of which were spent working in the St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital emergency room, Smith was watching junior hockey in the rink opposite to where the man collapsed. The time was between 9:30 and 10 p.m.

“Just out of the blue, this gentleman, this massive big man, comes bouldering through the door … shouting ‘is there anybody here who knows CPR?” recalled Smith.

Answering the call for help, he made his way out onto the ice. The man was flat on his back as Smith checked his vital signs.

He was not drawing breath, and if his heart was beating it was so weak Smith could barely feel it.

He started CPR, compressing the man’s chest as one of the players, still dressed in his gear, provided breath.

This went on for a couple of minutes before one of the Twin Rinks staff fetched one of the two AEDs in the facility.

Between the rink staffer, Smith and the hockey player, the AED was used and the man’s heart started a very faint beat.

They kept up CPR for several more minutes until paramedics arrived and rushed the unconscious man to hospital.

Smith explained that he’s used thousands of defibrillators throughout his career but this was the first time he’d used an automatic one.

Thinking about the Twin Rinks situation in hindsight, he heaped praise on the devices.

“It certainly gives credit to the people who worked so hard to get these things in stadiums,” he said.

Wayne Klinger, 71, a regular at the center, was in the weight room doing his morning workout when he collapsed at one of the machines.

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Another patron quickly alerted staff and while a 911 call went out, Marchand ran to evaluate Klinger’s condition.

Wayne Klinger the Survivor

With the help of other people who were working out nearby, Klinger was moved to a firm, flat surface, and Assistant Director Jamie Henkel began CPR while Marchand retrieved the defibrillator.

Henkel was the right person for the job, Marchand said.

“Jamie has been with us about six months, and she had just finished doing CPR training with our lifeguards.” The center’s staff receives regular CPR training from the Mitchell Fire Division, he said.

Henkel quickly put the AED’s paddles on Klinger’s bare chest. The device automatically monitors its subject, and if necessary, administers a shock to restore a regular heartbeat.

It was necessary in Klinger’s case, and the AED shocked him until it got a pulse, Marchand said.

“It shocked him once, and then we found a pulse and he took one huge breath,” Henkel said. “I know I have been sleeping a lot better since I saw his face again.”

Henkel said this was the first time the Medtronic Lifepak defibrillator has been used at the Mitchell Recreation Center since it was installed about five years ago.

“It’s an incredible piece of equipment,” Marchand said.

An artificial electronic voice on the AED tells the user exactly how to proceed and where to place the electronic paddles on the victim’s chest.

“It gives you step-by-step instructions and walks you right through it,” Marchand said.

Klinger wasn’t conscious, but by the time the paramedics rolled him out of the center, the defibrillator had re-established a regular pulse. He was flown to Sioux Falls for further treatment.

Remarkably, Klinger walked into the Rec Center the next Monday, ready for a light workout. That was prior to his second, more serious episode, and Klinger said he was feeling remarkably good.

“It was a pretty emotional experience for all of us when he walked through that door,” Marchand said.

Klinger likes to stay busy. A former owner of Business Products Inc. in Mitchell, he still works part-time as a salesman for BPI.

Up until his collapse at the center, he had always enjoyed good health.

“I never had an issue with my heart,” he said. “I had good blood pressure, low cholesterol and since my 40s I worked out at the center five days a week.”

He plans to take it slower until he completes his cardiac rehab program, but he believes his experience can help others.

“For me, all the right people were in the right place at the right time. My goal is to encourage people to get busy and get these AEDs in all their buildings and have someone trained to use them.

“I mean, how do you put a value on human life?”

Edward Kazinsky, 69, doesn’t remember anything about Dec. 16, 2011. Those who saved his life will never forget.

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The gym at Decatur High School was a flurry of activity as a boys basketball game against Foss was about to begin. Kazinsky, in his black and white referee stripes, was preparing to officiate the game.

Edward Kazinsky the Survivor

Just before the tip-off, Kazinsky collapsed on the court from sudden cardiac arrest. He was unconscious and not breathing. Immediately, a handful of good Samaritans sprang into action. Decatur staff members Heather White, Sherilyn Olson, Nami Headland and Sian Fankhauser, along with parent Bobbie McLain and a bus driver from Foss, rushed to Kazinsky’s side.

An Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) was located and used, while McLain and Fankhauser began CPR. They continued to work on Kazinsky for about 20 minutes until paramedics arrived at the scene. Paramedics were able to restore Kazinsky’s breathing and transported him to the hospital.

Now, nearly four months later, Kazinsky is on the road to recovery. He tires a little more easily. And he’s a little forgetful sometimes. But he feels better every day. He’s been working outside on his property and playing cribbage. He’s hoping his doctor will clear him to officiate basketball again next fall.

Kazinsky is grateful for all those who came to his aid at Decatur that day. “I thank them for my life,” he said. “They say I’m a miracle to be alive.”

“The true heroes in my opinion are the people who administered CPR on my husband,” Jane Kazinsky said. “They kept him alive until medical services arrived. Our family is so grateful for everything they did to help. He is alive today because of them. Words cannot express how grateful we are to everyone who helped Ed during this crisis. Thank you to all.”