A middle-aged man suffered a cardiac arrest during a game at Pitt Meadows Arena. The players in an oldtimer’s hockey league association helped in saving the life of one their teammates after he suffered a heart attack in one of the dressing rooms. The players delivered CPR and rushed to look for a second defibrillator after the first one had dead batteries.
Malfunction crisis
The incident transpired around 11:30 PM according to the arena personnel.
The man just finished playing in a match in the Pitt Meadows Oldtimers Hockey league. He went into cardiac arrest after entering the dressing room.
The team members of the man, the Tri-City Chiefs initiated CPR right away. When the man failed to respond, they rushed to get an automated external defibrillator (AED) in the Volkswagen rink which was in the middle of the facility. Sadly, the defibrillator was not working. The team members rushed to find a second defibrillator in the Chrysler Arena just next to Volkswagen.
An engineer in the facility who was cleaning an empty dressing room noticed that the defibrillator in the Volkswagen rink was missing and rushed to assist. The engineer delivered CPR while a team member used the second defibrillator until the arrival of the paramedics and Pitt Meadows firefighters.
Timely action
According to Scott Mosby, acting general manager of Pitt Meadows arena, the defibrillators will be checked every weekly. Back then, the defibrillators in the arena were checked once a month. He added that there was a failure in the actual unit.
Mosby added that Nustadia and the City of Pitt Meadows take public safety seriously. CPR along with the prompt use of the AED by both teams along with the facility staff had a crucial role in saving the life of the man.
The man was already breathing when he was transported by the ambulance from the facility that night. As of Friday, the man was still hospitalized but expected to fully recovery.
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LEARN MORE
Learn how to help by enrolling in a CPR and AED class and for more information, check out these sources:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/first-aid/first-aid-cpr/basics/art-20056600
https://www.webmd.com/first-aid/automated-external-defibrillators-aed-treatment
https://www.news-medical.net/health/What-is-a-Defibrillator.aspx