First Aid Corps

County of Simcoe Paramedic Services responded to a call for assistance at the Nottawasaga Inn – Centre Ice Arena, Alliston after a 44-year old man collapsed after playing hockey.

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Staff came immediately to his aid performing CPR to revive the man and called 911.

An Automated External Defibrillator was used and the man was revived.

Paramedics took over the life-saving measures and transported the man to a local sent to Southlake Hospital, Newmarket for cardiac care. Reports claim that the man is now recovering.

Off-duty Bonita Springs firefighter John Kutz, 26, was participating in a pickup hockey game when a 56-year-old man collapsed on the ice at Germain Arena.

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Kutz said the man began turning blue and was unresponsive.

John Kutz the Saviour

“I took off his helmet, opened his airway, checked for pulses, didn’t get any of that. Then just started CPR on him and then called for the AED and the guys knew where it was – thank God they had one. We shocked him one time, then continued CPR after that and the guy kind-of woke up a little bit.”

“His eyes opened and he pushed our hands away from him,” Kutz said.

Kutz reported that the victim was breathing when Estero Fire rescuers arrived on the scene and began performing advanced life support on the man, while Kutz assisted.

By the time Lee County Emergency Management Services arrived, Kutz said the man was “almost fully alert.”

Lee County Emergency Management Services took the man to Lee Memorial, said Debbi Redfield, spokeswoman for Bonita Springs Fire district.

Kutz also noted that well-trained Estero responders and his training might have saved the victim’s life.

“It was just a job well done by everyone,” he said.

It was around 10:25 a.m. on Saturday at the R.J. Kennedy Memorial Arena in Cumberland and Roch Leduc, Ottawa paramedic superintendent, was waiting for his wife to arrive when a 20-year-old man collapsed on the playing surface.

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The (game) became all quiet suddenly,” said Leduc. “I saw the individual on the ground and I figured maybe he had tripped or some-thing.”

He said 10 to 12 long seconds went by and still the man wasn’t moving. That’s when his focus became squarely on the downed player. I thought to myself, ‘OK, now get up,’ but he didn’t.”

One of the other players waved for help and Leduc jumped from his seat. As he got closer, it became apparent there was a serious problem.

“When I put him on his back, I noticed he had no pulse, he wasn’t breathing and so I started doing chest compression.”

As he was performing CPR, someone went to the rink attendant, who ran over with the arena’s defibrillator.

I grabbed the package from her, opened it up and placed the pads on the man. We delivered a shock and did CPR for another minute or so. The machine automatically analyzed the situation and delivered a second shock.

We carried on and then he started blinking his eyes and moaning and groaning, so I stopped and checked for a pulse. He was breathing on his own and had a good pulse.”

Leduc said as much as four minutes might have passed before the man breathed again.

It was close.” As if the patient wasn’t already lucky enough to have a paramedic in the arena, Leduc was only there because his wife was running a little late. I was waiting 10 minutes for my wife to arrive, otherwise I wouldn’t have been there at all.”

By the time an advanced care paramedic unit arrived, the man was awake and talking.

He was taken to hospital, where his status was upgraded from life-threatening condition to stable condition.

Ross White, the manager of the Stephenville Dome, was sitting in his office doing some paperwork when he heard the alarm go off on the defibrillator cabinet and went to a window that overlooks the ice and noticed everyone gathered by the players’ box.

Ross White the Saviour

He immediately left his office and on the way down met Dave Boudreau, an employee at the arena, and told him to follow. They went over to the bench and that’s where this man was lying on the floor with Monty Drake and Brian Roberts, two of the hockey players, doing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on him.

“They told me what had happened, that the man had collapsed after getting off the ice and saying he wasn’t feeling so well, so I checked for breathing and a pulse, and not finding either, I got ready to use the automated external defibrillator on him,” he said.

This device basically tells you what to do according to White, so once the paddles were attached the machine informed him the man had no pulse and wasn’t breathing and to stand clear and get ready to shock him.

White said with this all done he pressed the button and the man jolted up and immediately regained consciousness. He said he only had to shock him once.

With a crowd gathered around it was difficult to hear the machine and he said it was great that Boudreau was repeating everything the machine had to say to him.

He said it was shortly after the ambulance arrived and the man was still conscious and brought to the Sir Thomas Roddick Hospital, where he has been since.

“It didn’t really feel like I had done anything extraordinary, but the more people talk about it the more I realize how close we were to losing him,” he said. I hope I never have to do it again, but it’s good to know the defibrillator is there if we need it.”

“I probably wouldn’t have said it before, but now after using the defibrillator — yes, it’s a very big deal when you see it save a person’s life,” White said.

Harvey Thien, a participant in Nanaimo’s senior scrub hockey program, collapsed unconscious on the bench at the Cliff McNabb Arena in Beban Park on April 9.

Fortunately, a number of retired firefighters, including Ted Greves and Keith MacDonald, were also playing hockey at the time and used one of the recently installed automated external defibrillators at the arena to resuscitate Thien.

Thien was airlifted to Victoria, where he underwent bypass surgery and is now recuperating.

“He looked to me like he was gone by the time we got to (Thien),” Greves said of the incident.

“Having that defibrillator close at hand saved his life because I don’t think he would have made it otherwise. It was wonderful to see him come back to life.

Al Murphy, 62, retired ranger for the Chelan Ranger District, was participating in the Co-Ed Jamboree recreational hockey tournament this weekend. He was playing in his fifth game of the tournament, and third game of the day, when he went into cardiac arrest.

Al Murphy (bottom right) the Survivor

He just happened to be sitting next to teammate Dr. Lisa Petersen of Wenatchee, who started CPR when she could not find a pulse.

Players and spectators watched in horror. She continued the life-saving efforts until paramedics arrived and restarted his heart with a portable defibrillator.

Murphy regained consciousness Tuesday and was in serious condition this morning. His wife, Nanc and sons Taber and Corbin have been with him.

Don Weir, 66, suffered a heart attack on Feb. 15 after swimming at the Indiana University Natatorium on the campus of Indiana University Purdue University-Indianapolis.

Weir, a father of seven and grandfather of four, had been working out in the pool for more than two decades before his life-changing ordeal, one he feels fortunate to have survived.

Feb. 15 was not a normal day for lifeguards. Although they undergo hours of training and practice to be ready to respond when someone in the water needs their help, they put those skills to the test in a real-world situation.

Five of them were involved in the rescue, not poolside, but in the locker room.

Weir had just finished swimming laps when he collapsed on the locker room floor. Another swimmer found him, and lifeguards rushed in to help.

CPR was performed on Weir, and an automatic defibrillator was used until paramedics arrived.

Weir was rushed to the hospital, where doctors were able to stabilize him.

On Monday, Weir was able to go back to the pool to thank those who saved him.

“I could hardly wait. I had no memory for five days,” he said. “They told me what happened. It was very important I get here.”

“Knowing that we kept a family together, it’s just unbelievable,” said lifeguard Christina Reitz. “You don’t think about that when you get up in the morning.”

Weir is still going through cardiac rehabilitation. He won’t be able to come back to swim until he gets clearance from a doctor, but Weir said he looks forward to returning to the pool.

It was nearing halftime during a recreational league game at Suwanee Sports Academy on Dec. 19 when Mike Lulko suddenly felt dizzy.

With his wife and two children watching in the stands, the 49-year-old collapsed.

His teammates — Ken Manning, Will Hamilton and Lance Cook — work in the medical imaging business and are trained in CPR.

They took turns trying to resuscitate Lulko, but couldn’t get a pulse. That’s when Manning yelled for someone to retrieve an Automatic External Defibrillator from the lobby.

“I hooked him up, and he was almost in a flatline,” Manning said. “His heart was in ventricular fibrillation, which means his heart was just kind of quivering there.”

The portable machine quickly diagnosed Lulko. It said “shock advised,” so Manning applied electrode pads to his friend’s bare chest and pushed the button to deliver an electronic shock to his heart. Within about 30 seconds, Lulko was coming around.

“I knew in my heart he would be OK and when I saw him on the ground, I was actually really scared. So I ran off because I didn’t want this to happen,” London Lulko, Mike’s son, said.

His wife and two children watched him pass out on the court, terrified, they thought he might not make it.

“When I saw him doing chest compressions I just something in me said he was gone and he really was gone. I can’t thank them enough they gave me my husband back and the father of our kids,” Susie Lulko said.

Doctors would later tell Lulko that his chances of survival were slim had his friends not thought to fetch an AED, and had the Suwanee Sports Center not had the foresight to purchase one.

“Without that defibrillator, I wouldn’t have gotten up off that floor,” Lulko said.

Lulko is back in the gym and playing sports. The teammates say his brush with death has brought their friendship to a new level.

“I think we’ll always have that bond,” Manning said.

The middle-aged St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield club member was watching his son play an U21 hurling championship clash with east Clare side Clonlara at Wolfe Tones GAA club in Shannon when he collapsed unexpectedly.

Two nurses and several other bystanders quickly ran to the man’s aid. One nurse determined that the man had suffered a cardiac arrest and sent another person to the clubhouse to raise the alarm and find a defibrillator.

The nurses, one from each club, promptly began to administer cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and used the defibrillator to revive the man. Soon afterwards, ambulance paramedics arrived at the scene and began treating the patient.

St Joseph’s club secretary Mr Dan O’Connor said: “We are very grateful that there were so many people there to help but we have to compliment the Wolfe Tones club for having such a vital piece of lifesaving equipment when it was needed. Having a defibrillator in a club, as we have ourselves, is absolutely essential and every club in the country should have one.”

The Wolfe Tones club was presented with their defibrillator almost two years ago after money was raised by the students of the nearby St Conaire’s primary school.

Groundsman Mike Kelly, one of those trained to used the defibrillator, said: “I was down at the dressing room end working on the scoreboard when someone came running up looking for the defibrillator. Ours is strategically located so that it can be quickly accessed from the bar area, the dressing rooms or any part of the club. I grabbed it and handed it over and two nurses carried out CPR on the man. It definitely saved that man’s life.”

Randy Poel, a sergeant with the Grand Haven Department of Public Safety, went into cardiac arrest and collapsed while playing hockey at Lakeshore Sports Centre in Fruitport Township on Feb. 21.

Randy Poel the Survivor

Capt. Nathan Morgan of the Muskegon Township Fire Department used the arena’s AED to shock Poel’s heart back to life.

Poel than was taken to a hospital. He has since recovered.

“If it wasn’t for the AED and Nate Morgan, the doctors said that 100 percent beyond a doubt my husband would’ve died,” Lisa Poel said.

“I don’t want anyone to have to go through losing a family member over something that inexpensive,” Lisa said.

Lakeshore Sports Centre Manager Jason Goodell said the arena has had an AED on site for almost four years. It was donated by Scott Wilbur, a customer who thought the business ought to have one.

“He’s received a lot of ‘thank yous’ over the past few weeks,” said Goodell, who wasn’t at the arena when Poel collapsed.

“When I got the call from my assistant, the first thing I asked was, ‘Did you guys use the defibrillator?’?” he said.

Lisa Poel is grateful her husband was playing hockey with firefighters and police officers, all of whom had been trained in the use of AEDs.