AED Survivor Stories
Since the inception of the Heart&Stroke Restart a Heart, Restart a Life program and the Heart&Stroke Chase McEachern Tribute Fund, Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) donated by the HSFO and its program partners have saved at least nine lives Ontario.
The stories below illustrate how cardiac arrest can occur any time, without warning, and how, with AEDs in place, lives can be saved.
Santa gives gift of life
Emma Reilly
The Hamilton Spectator
(Dec 6, 2008)
Everyone knows Santa can perform miracles. But on Thursday afternoon, he had a little help from a defibrillator.
Santa -- a.k.a. Ken Mandeno -- helped save a woman's life after she had a heart attack in the lobby of Hamilton Place after a Geritol Follies performance.
Mandeno, who performs the Jingle Bell Rap in the Follies' Christmas Variety Show, was still in his Santa costume when he used the automatic electronic defibrillator to restart the woman's heart.
The retired steel worker was mingling with the audience after the show when the woman collapsed. Mandeno stepped in because he had just taken a first-aid course last month at the Glanford Curling Club, where he learned how to use the device.
"A lot went through my head before I pushed that button," said the retired Steel worker. "It wasn't really scary, but it was like running into unknown territory."
Mandeno doesn't know the identity of the woman he helped save. "The last I heard, she's doing well," he said.
Beth Burley, who works with the Geritol Follies, was at the merchandise table in the lobby when she saw the woman fall to the ground. Burley was monitoring the woman's heartbeat when Mandeno brought the defibrillator over.
"Imagine seeing Santa Claus come sweeping in to save the day, she said, "It was very Miracle on 34th Street."
Missy Dunn, a St. John's Ambulance volunteer, said Mandeno's quick action helped save the woman's life. Dunn was administering CPR while Mandeno was putting the defibrillator pads onto the woman's body.
Dunn, Burley and Mandeno continued to monitor the woman until paramedics showed up.
The defibrillator was installed in Hamilton Place as part of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario's Restart a Heart, Restart a Life program, which installed 1,000 defibrillators across the province.
Mandeno says he knew the machine was being used for the first time because parts of the defibrillator were still encased in plastic.
"I don't feel I'm entitled to any glory," he said. "Hopefully the action I took saved her."
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Sturgeon Falls father and husband is alive, thanks to an AED
Michel Langevin credits an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) for saving his life after he suffered a heart attack at the Sturgeon Falls Arena in April 2007. He collapsed while skating to the bench for a line change during an annual old-timers hockey tournament. While two off-duty nurses started CPR, the AED was quickly applied and one shock was delivered just prior to the arrival of paramedics. Ironically, proceeds from the same hockey tournament the previous year had been donated to the PAD program (Public Access Defibrillator) to help install the AED at the arena
Barrie resident saved at his local community centre
It was an extra special holiday season for one Barrie man, who survived cardiac arrest in December 2007 while in the swimming pool change room at the East Bayfield Community Centre. After lifeguards stepped in to perform CPR and utilize the Public Access Defibrillator, the man regained a heart beat and started breathing on his own.
Out-of-towner's heart is restarted at Brantford Civic Centre
Also in December 2007, an out-of-town visitor in his late sixties narrowly survived cardiac arrest at the Brantford Civic Centre while attending a dog show there. An emergency room doctor later confirmed to officials that had he not been defibrillated on site, the man likely would not have survived.
Norfolk County hockey player regains heart rhythm
After collapsing while playing hockey in the Langton Arena in January 2008, a Norfolk County resident regained a sustainable heart rhythm after one shock of the arena's Public Access Defibrillator, in conjunction with CPR initiated by two off-duty firefighters.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario is delighted to have played a significant role in these most recent cardiac saves, and is dedicated to continuing to work with Ontario communities, partners and supporters, to make AEDs as commonplace as fire extinguishers in recreational facilities across the province.
Names have been omitted from some of these stories to protect the privacy of the survivors.
