After The Star reported on David Plotkin’s heart attack on July 30 and his subsequent save by a team of lifeguards, others stepped forward with important details showing that even more people than originally thought played a role in that dramatic save.
Kim Terlizzi, her family, and a couple of friends were setting up for a day at the beach, 20 yards east of the Amagansett Beach Association stand, on July 30, she said, when her daughter Melissa Weitzel and her friend Laura Troccoli noticed Mr. Plotkin struggling on his bike.
Mr. Plotkin, “didn’t really fall,” said Ms. Terlizzi. “He stopped, lowered himself to the ground, and then splayed out backwards, face towards the sky.”
“I think he’s just tired,” she told her daughter, but then they noticed his arms and legs twitching. My daughter said, “Daddy, is he all right?” That’s when Ms. Terlizzi yelled for her husband, Lou, a retired Mount Kisco police officer. Another of Ms. Terlizzi’s friends, Maryanne Berg, a nurse at Northern Westchester Hospital, determined that Mr. Plotkin did not have a pulse.
“Within 30 seconds, Lou was performing CPR on Mr. Plotkin,” Ms. Terlizzi said. Ms. Berg was right by his side, keeping Mr. Plotkin’s airways open.
While Mr. Terlizzi performed CPR, her daughter ran a couple hundred yards to the Amagansett Beach Association lifeguard stand and alerted the guards. Two immediately ran toward Mr. Plotkin. A third, Charlie Goldsmith, was alerted and shortly after, followed them with the automatic external defibrillator.
For a good three to four minutes, Mr. Terlizzi and Ms. Berg were alone with Mr. Plotkin and the two young guards, his wife said. She held an umbrella over the scene to keep everyone as cool as possible. “It was so hot,” she said.
When Mr. Goldsmith arrived with the defibrillator, he put the pads on Mr. Plotkin’s chest and shocked him. He had no heartbeat or pulse. Mr. Terlizzi continued with the compressions. The lifeguards had brought a bag-valve mask to ventilate Mr. Plotkin. They shocked Mr. Plotkin again, but there was still no pulse. At that point, Mr. Terlizzi turned over the CPR to the lifeguards.
“We’re taught when the A.E.D. analyzes you swap out. You’re exhausted after two minutes of CPR. You have to swap someone in otherwise you’re not able to properly compress,” said John Ryan Jr., chief of East Hampton Town’s lifeguards. Mr. Terlizzi had heroically performed CPR continuously for many minutes.
For a third time, they hooked up the defibrillator to analyze Mr. Plotkin. It advised no shock. He had no pulse and no heartbeat. According to AED.com, the defibrillator will only shock a patient when it detects ventricular fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia. “There are other heart rhythms associated with sudden cardiac arrest that cannot be treated with a shock from an AED.” The lifeguards didn’t give up. They continued to perform CPR.
By this time, Marine Patrol arrived to transport Mr. Plotkin up the beach to the ambulance.
According to Mr. Ryan, when he was in the ambulance Mr. Plotkin finally got a pulse. “A very weak pulse,” he said.
Down by the beach, the Terlizzis and their friends were recovering from what had been a very intense and surprising few minutes.
“The beach was not very relaxing after that point,” said Ms. Terlizzi, laughing. “We did have a few people choose to sit down next to us, in case something went wrong.”
“It was a wild scene. A team effort. The guards and paramedics were great. Everything lined up for Mr. Plotkin that day and that’s why he’s here today,” she said.