First Aid Corps

Westbrook High’s athletic trainer Anita Dixon was sitting with her four college interns, watching the waning minutes of the first half of the girls junior varsity contest between the Blue Blazes and the Falmouth Yachtsmen, when she was pressed into action.

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“A couple of them had made a comment that that guy, he doesn’t look very good,” stated Dixon. “Needless to say he collapsed later on.”

He was Larry Moreau, a longtime official of local sporting events ranging from basketball to soccer to softball, who apparently suffered a heart attack while working the game.

“We were behind the girls basketball bench and all of a sudden we heard a thud, and it was him that had hit the floor,” she recalled.

Dixon and her students rushed to Moreau’s side and assessed the situation.

“When we did first get to him he was unconscious, but he was breathing and had very weak pulse,” she explained. “Later on, he ended up not breathing, and we had to use the AED to shock him to get his heart back in rhythm.”

The automated external defibrillator, or AED, saved Moreau’s life. An ambulance crew arrived soon there after and transported him to Maine Medical Center where he underwent emergency surgery and is in satisfactory condition.

“My training staff did a wonderful job,” said first year Westbrook athletic director, Marc Sawyer. “It was as organized and precise as a tough situation can be.”

“I think it is important that we recognize that technology and expertise really saved the day yesterday,” he added. “I don’t think there is any question, without the AED last night, we might be having a little bit different conversation here today.”

Anita Dixon says she is not a hero for saving Moreau’s life.

“I am grateful that he is still here and it doesn’t matter what I did,” she said. “It is just that the guy is in stable condition and that we did what we needed to do in order for him to still be here.”

Sawyer met with student athletes from both schools to talk with them about the traumatic situation, and says they have already begun having discussions about planning a fundraiser to raise money to buy AED’s and generate awareness about the life-saving devices.

You never know when the big moments will arrive, and so it was that veteran umpire Jim Joyce made his biggest call of the season … roughly 90 minutes before the Marlins-Diamondbacks game started in Arizona on Monday night.

Jim Joyce the Saviour

Joyce administered CPR to a Diamondbacks’ game-day employee named Jayne Powers in a tunnel leading to the umpires’ dressing room minutes on his way into the ballpark Monday, saving her life in a moment nobody who was in the vicinity at Chase Field will soon forget.

Talk about making the right call in a split-second.

“It was non-normal,” Joyce told CBSSports.com Tuesday afternoon. “I don’t know what word to put on it.

“It’s obviously never happened to me before.”

“We’re thrilled that she’s doing well today,” Russ Amaral, vice-president for Chase Field operations and facilities management, said. “And we’re grateful to those who were there to help.”

Powers, a beloved, original employee dating back to the franchise’s inception, has worked in concessions for the Diamondbacks since March 1, 1998. She remains in the hospital and hopes to be released by week’s end, according to the Diamondbacks.

Joyce, 56, and the other umpires in his crew — Lance Barrett, Jim Reynolds and James Hoye — had just arrived at Chase Field and were headed to their dressing room when they saw a woman down in the midst of having a seizure. Noting that, Joyce, who learned CPR when he was in high school, made sure that the woman’s head was protected. But shortly afterward, her body relaxed and Joyce knew something was wrong.

“I’ve had to use CPR before,” Joyce said, though not in many years. “This is something everybody should know. Everybody should know what to do in a circumstance like that.

“It’s not a hard thing. You don’t need a degree. It’s very simple, and very easy.”

Paramedics arrived while Joyce was administering CPR, but even after an initial shock from a defibrillator, Powers did not come out of it. So Joyce continued administering CPR while the paramedics did another round with the defibrillator.

Finally, Powers began breathing again. Someone told Joyce later Monday night that she went out again in the ambulance and that paramedics again used the defibrillator. But by later that night, when he came back into the umpires’ room following the game, Joyce’s understanding was that Powers’ condition in the hospital was stable.

“I’m going to find out more, hopefully she’s doing OK,” said Joyce, who was waiting for an update Tuesday.

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.”

Rob Farnfield, 54, of Hackney Road in Matlock, was refereeing a match at Matlock Rugby Club last November when he had a heart attack and collapsed.

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Fortunately, two off-duty nurses were watching the game and gave him valuable resuscitation (CPR) until the First Responders arrived with a defibrillator, a portable piece of life saving equipment that delivers an electric shock through the chest wall to help restore the heart’s normal rhythm.

Rob Farnfield the Survivor

He was then taken by air ambulance to the University Hospital Coventry.

Rob, who was unconscious throughout most of the ordeal, was told he was resuscitated seven times.

He said: “There were about ten minutes to go in the game when I collapsed on the pitch. There was no warning or any pain. It was as if someone had just turned the power off.”

He added: “I felt fine beforehand. I’m reasonably fit, don’t have blood pressure or the things you would associate with a heart problems

After having a stent fitted, Rob spent five days in hospital recovering before taking on cardiac rehabilitation at the Whitworth Centre in Darley Dale.

He now takes part in gym sessions especially for heart patients, at Arc Leisure Matlock and within less than a year has gone from being able to walk just a few feet to walking from Matlock to Derby.

Rob has not refereed at Matlock Rugby Club since his heart attack but has been to the club base, at Cromford Meadows, many times since and the charity has paid for a defibrillator for the club house.

Crowds watched as Gabriel Tumelty collapsed during a senior Gaelic football match between Burren and Longstone at Pairc Esler in Newry on Sunday.

Ex-chairman of Longstone GAA, Hugh Rodgers, who was at the match on Sunday, said he saw Mr Tumelty suddenly collapse while running.

“The game was coming very close to the end and as he was running he fell flat on his face.

“I thought he had tripped but it became clear he was in grave danger. It became quickly apparent it was serious,” he said.

“It took a few minutes for it to transfer through that it wasn’t a broken ankle, and therefore it (the match) would be cancelled.”

The 46-year-old from Ballykinler was treated on the pitch by medical staff at around 9pm. It is the second time in two weeks that the device has been used pitch-side in Northern Ireland.

As recently as last month a defibrillator was used on Chris McNeill (17), after he collapsed while playing in a Milk Cup match in Portstewart on July 25.

On Sunday medics from both teams as well as three doctors watching the game came to the referee’s assistance when he collapsed during the last few minutes of injury time. One Burren team member who works as a dentist placed Mr Tumelty in the recovery position before the defibrillator was used to revive him.

He was rushed to nearby Daisy Hill Hospital before being transferred to Craigavon Area hospital yesterday afternoon where he is now in a stable condition.

Mr Rodgers said he didn’t believe Mr Tumelty suffered from a serious health problem and added that referees at senior level would have a high degree of fitness.