First Aid Corps

A man who went into cardiac arrest while dining at a mall restaurant was saved by quick-thinking bystanders and security guards using a portable defibrillator, officials said Friday.

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The 35 year-old man was eating lunch at the Red Robin restaurant in the Westfield Connecticut Post mall last Saturday when his heart stopped, said Capt. Chris Zak of the Milford Fire Department. When the customer collapsed, restaurant manager Curtis Kilburn called 911 and the mall security office.

Two bystanders began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the man, who had no pulse or heartbeat, Zak said. Jeanne DeMello, a nurse, and Mark Kipstein, an off-duty New York City firefighter, started the chest compressions within moments of the man’s collapse.

Security guards Brian Carlson and Michael Todd used the portable defibrillator to deliver one measured shock that returned the man’s heart to a normal rhythm, Zak said.

Mall spokesman Greg Udchitz said Friday that the mall owns at least two of the units, and the security guards and other Westfield personnel are trained in how to use them as well as in basic first aid and CPR. “It is very rare that we see a medical emergency like this, where we get to use our training,” he said.

Milford Fire Department paramedics arrived within four minutes, Zak said, and provided advanced life support services and oxygen. The man, who was not identified, was transported by ambulance to Milford Hospital.

Three security guards have been hailed as heroes after saving the life of a pensioner who lay dying in the town centre.

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The trio from Middleton Shopping Centre raced to the aid of 75-year-old Vera Roach who had collapsed close to Burton Street after suffering a cardiac arrest.

As well as administering CPR, the quick-thinking threesome of Leigh Garratt, John Hayes and Paul Robinson used a defibrillator kept in the shopping centre while an ambulance raced to the scene.

John Heyes, Paul Robinson & Leigh Garatt the Saviours

Mrs Roach’s daughter Jacqueline, said the men’s actions had saved her mum’s live.

“The doctors told me that if it wasn’t for the actions of the guards my mum wouldn’t have made it. I cannot thank them enough.”

Mrs Roach is expected to arrive home today (Thursday) after spending a fortnight being treated at North Manchester General Hospital.

She collapsed on June 30 close to the lights at the end of Burton Street after leaving her home to head into Middleton town centre for some shopping.

But as she prepared to cross Factory Street she suffered a heart attack and fell to the ground.

A few minutes later, security manager Leigh Garratt from Reliance, who manage Middleton Shopping Centre’s, spotted Mrs Roach on the ground.

“I was just heading out on my lunch when I spotted a crowd gathered around this lady,” he said. “I went over and started performing CPR and asked my colleagues to bring over the defibrillation machine from the shopping centre.”

Leigh’s colleagues, John and Paul, arrived with the machine as the trio continued to attempt to restart Mrs Roach’s heart while they waited for an ambulance to arrive.

Once paramedics arrived, they continued to assistant the medical crews as they prepared to transfer her to hospital.

“There is a golden few minutes when someone’s heart stops,” Leigh added. “I have since found out that Mrs Roach had been there for over 10 minutes before we arrived, but we are trained to do this and were glad to help out.”

As well as working as security guards in Middleton Shopping Centre, Leigh and his colleagues are all trained in basic life support as well as how to use a defibrillation machine.

David McNally, community resuscitation manager for NW ambulance, who trained the guards, said: “If these machines are used within four minutes of someone collapsing the chances of people surviving goes up quite dramatically and this is what happened here.

“It is testament to their skill and the programme we do that someone’s life has been saved.”

Since the incident, Mrs Roach has been fitted with a pacemaker and has made a speedy recovery.

Her daughter Jacqueline said she was expected to return to her home in Parkfield today (Thursday).

“I cannot thank the guards enough for what they have done,” she said. “Together with the ambulance and doctors they have saved my mum’s live.”

Ronald Shinn, age 67, collapsed while walking across a parking lot at the Providence Tigard Business Center.

Ronald Shinn (center) the Survivor

Fortunate for Shinn, Providence Security Guard John Pilon and Providence eHealth Regional Medical Director Ray Costantini were nearby and immediately came to his aid.

The pair began CPR and utilized an on-site automatic external defibrillator (AED) to shock Shinn’s dying heart.

Emergency crews from Metro West Ambulance and Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue arrived on scene approximately three minutes later.

A single shock by paramedics converted Shinn’s heart back to a normal rhythm and he was immediately loaded into the ambulance. While en route to the hospital, paramedics continued advanced life support measures.

Remarkably, Shinn was semi-conscious and attempting to speak to paramedics when he arrived at the hospital. He was able to leave the hospital three days later.

51-year-old Richard Hannah was part of a crew installing a new fire alarm system at The Peaks Resort when he hit the ground as the result of a massive heart attack.

“The last thing I remember is working,” Hannah said in an interview with the Planet on Thursday. “The next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital five days later.”

Hannah was saved by one of the 32 public automatic external defibrillators placed throughout the towns of Telluride, Mountain Village, Placerville and even at Society Turn in Lawson Hill.

It was Peaks Director of Security Tom Chaddic, a trained first responder, who saved Hannah’s life.

Hannah was then taken to the Telluride Medical Center, where he was stabilized for a flight to St. Mary’s hospital in Grand Junction.

A 38-YEAR-OLD man whose heart stopped is alive and in hospital, thanks to a built-in defibrillator in the Madrid shopping centre he was visiting.

A security guard in La Vaguada mall in the city’s Pilar district says he was automatically alerted when the man attempted to use the machine.

He then rushed to his aid and applied the defibrillator, which sends electric shocks through the heart to re-start it.

Public buildings all over Spain began to install defibrillators at the end of 2007 after the sudden death of Sevilla footballer Antonio Puerta from a cardiac arrest.