First responders were recognized last week for saving the life of a man who had fallen from his bicycle in Montauk in September and was in cardiac arrest. The Suffolk County Regional Emergency Medical Services Council presented members of the Montauk Fire Department and the East Hampton Town Police Department with a cardiopulmonary resuscitation Save award.
At about 2 p.m. on Sept. 28, police called the fire department to Old Montauk Highway for a 70-year-old man who had injuries from a fall. While en route, emergency medical technicians learned that the patient did not have a pulse and was not breathing, and that CPR was in progress. Police, including Jessie Stavola and Lisa White, had used an automated external defibrillator to shock the patient twice.
The E.M.T.s — Dustin Lightcap, Thom Fleming, Donna Hitscherich, Dan Sisco, Laura Gundersen, Kathy Weiss, and Bill Hoffman — performed advanced cardiovascular life support, and the man regained a pulse once moved into the ambulance. E.M.T.s continued to assist with the patient’s breathing by ventilating him while Charlie Grimes drove to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital.
At the hospital, the patient received an Impella device, a heart pump, and a stent to open an occluded artery. He was transferred to Stony Brook University Hospital for further monitoring. He went home on Oct. 8.
“Quick identification of what was happening and corresponding action by the East Hampton Town Police Department undoubtedly saved his life,” said Mr. Lightcap, the lieutenant of the Fire Department’s emergency medical services company.