First Aid Corps

Two Kent Police officers responded to a report of a bicyclist lying in the road at about 3:09 p.m. Sunday in the 25400 block of Lake Fenwick Road, according to a Kent Police media release.

It was initially thought that the cyclist had been struck by a car, but reportedly he had collapsed while riding.

Officer Jeff Kluzak arrived within two minutes after the call and found the man unconscious. Following a quick medical assessment, the officer started CPR.

Moments later, officer Doug Westcott arrived to help. In an effort to revive the unresponsive man, an AED carried in the police car was used to deliver a shock to the man’s heart.

Paramedics then arrived and through the combined efforts of all the responders, the man was successfully revived. He was later transported to Valley Medical Center in Renton for further treatment.

This marked the first successful application of an AED by Kent Police since the units were initially deployed last month in each patrol car.

“All of us are very pleased that our officers were able to use their judgment, training, and equipment to save a life,” Kent Police Chief Steve Strachan said.

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.

The retired longshoreman, 85-year-old Bill Trujillo, strapped on his helmet and set out on a route he’d traveled many times.

John Heinrich the Saviour with Bill Trujillo the Survivor

There, his memory of that day stops. It picks up 20 days later, when he regained consciousness in a hospital and was told he’d suffered a heart attack, fallen off his bicycle and ultimately underwent six-way bypass surgery.

On Aug. 24, Heinrich was off-duty and traveling with his wife to Wal-Mart to buy supplies for the high school class he helps teach.

They were at the intersection of Elm Street and Mills Avenue when they saw Trujillo lying in the street, tangled in a bicycle about a block south.

They detoured and drove to the man, where Heinrich jumped out of the vehicle.

A bystander was about to move Trujillo out of the roadway, but the firefighter said to wait, in case the man had spinal injuries.

“I checked for a pulse, and he didn’t have one,” Heinrich said.

It all happened very quickly, Heinrich said, but instinct and training kicked in instantly.

He started CPR while using his cell phone to call for help. Fellow on-duty firefighters arrived with a defibrillator and used it twice before Trujillo’s heart started beating again.

“Really, all I did was keep him alive until they got here with the defibrillator,” Heinrich said.

An ambulance soon arrived and took Trujillo to Lodi Memorial Hospital. He was then transferred to Mercy Hospital in Sacramento.

Mike Trujillo noted that Heinrich’s training saved his father’s life, allowing the family to celebrate Thanksgiving today.

“He acted not only as a fireman but as a citizen,” he said. “We should probably all learn CPR.”