Brevard deputies save life
of cardiac patient
By J.D. Gallop, Florida Today
April 7th, 2005
Three Brevard County Sheriff's deputies are heroes
today to a Merritt Island family after using an automated
defibrillator to save the life of a 70-year-old grandfather
having a heart attack.
"The deputies did a great job, they brought
my uncle back," said Louswana Marcum, one of
several family members who watched as deputies worked
to save Donald Thompson. Her uncle was visiting from
Ohio when he began having chest pains.
"He's doing good now. They said this saved his
life," she said.
Deputies Ray Seigel, Mike Bieri and Jason Drinkwater
were on patrol at 11:09 p.m. Wednesday when they heard
a report of a man in cardiac arrest at his son's home
on Newfound Harbor Drive on Merritt Island.
They arrived and found family members desperately
trying to revive Thompson while dispatchers gave CPR
directions over the phone.
Thompson leaned over to kiss his wife of 51 years
good night minutes before he began having trouble
breathing.
"He had just told her he loved her and fell
back," said Marcum, who watched the rescue efforts.
Deputy Bieri went back to the patrol car and took
out an automated defibrillator moments before Brevard
County Fire Rescue paramedics arrived at the home.
"I was amazed. My brother and my uncle were
trying to work on him. That's when the deputies came
in and used that little machine," Marcum said.
The three deputies used the defibrillator to deliver
life-saving shocks to resuscitate Thompson.
Thompson, playing with his great-grandchildren hours
before, was then taken to Cape Canaveral Hospital
in Cocoa Beach where he was recovering, Marcum said.
The sheriff's office has about 150 of the devices
- which delivers a pulse of electricity to reset the
heart - and uses them on patrol or even at the county
courthouse in emergency situations if paramedics are
unavailable.
"I think every police car should have one,"
Marcum said. |
