A Toronto woman helped save the life of a man in cardiac arrest with CPR. The incident occurred at a west-end gym and a staff member bystanders did not intervene.
Alex Jade, 29 years old was working out at a GoodLife Fitness club when she noticed a staff member carrying a defibrillator and casually walking over to a man lying on the gym floor.
Unforeseen ordeal
The man was on the ground with a bluish face and eyes rolled back. The staff member placed down the defibrillator and took a few steps back and did not even turn it on.
Jade had training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) before becoming a flight attendant. She is also an actress who recently returned from the Sundance Film Festival and has starred in 2 movies.
She knew that a person can end up with permanent brain damage after 4 minutes without oxygen. She quickly turned on the defibrillator, attached the electrodes and delivered a shock. Jade started the chest compressions for up to 10 minutes until the arrival of the paramedics.
Jaroslaw Zabrzycki, 51 years old stated that he would have died if Jade did not help. He is truly grateful for her effort in saving his life.
He was taken to a healthcare facility where he underwent surgery for two blocked arteries. The angioplasty involved the insertion of stents into the arteries to improve the flow of blood to the heart.
He could not recall what happened, only that he was at the gym and woke up in a hospital. He is now recovering at home but did not know he had a heart condition until the gym incident.
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LEARN MORE
Learn how to help by enrolling in a first aid and CPR course and for more information, check out these sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiac_arrest
https://www.webmd.com/first-aid/cardiopulmonary-resuscitation-cpr-treatment
https://www.mayoclinic.org/first-aid/first-aid-cpr/basics/art-20056600