Off-duty nurses, firefighter save Mass. hockey player's lifeCPR, AED used to keep victim alive
By Dennis Tatz
The Patriot Ledger
WEYMOUTH, Mass. — Two nurses and an off-duty Weymouth firefighter sprang into action when a retired Hingham police officer collapsed after coming off the ice during a hockey game at the Pilgrim Skating Arena.
One of the nurses and the firefighter used CPR to keep retired police Lt. Joseph McCracken, 65, alive with blood flowing to his heart and brain. The second nurse used a defibrillator to jump-start McCracken's heart.
"We did what we were trained to do," Derek Robison, a Weymouth firefighter since 2006 and a certified emergency medical technician, said when contacted about what happened.
A Hingham Fire Department ambulance arrived minutes later to take McCracken to South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, where he was listed in good condition Tuesday.
Pilgrim Skating Arena has three rinks. Robison, 38, was watching his 6-year-old son Donovan's game when a man wearing hockey skates came rushing out from one of the other rinks shortly before 5 p.m. Sunday. He was looking for a doctor.
"He said someone needed help," Robison said.
Robison and a nurse, whose daughter plays on his son's Weymouth Youth Hockey team, ran over to see what they could do.
"Someone said he (McCracken) had just come off the ice when he collapsed near the bench," Robison said.
Others had gathered around McCracken and were trying to help him when the unidentified nurse and Robison pitched in with their life-saving efforts.
Meanwhile, another nurse arrived with a defibrillator, which she used on McCracken to jump-start his heart with electrical shocks.
"Someone said she got it out of her car," Robison said.
The names of the two nurses were not available. Hingham Fire Chief Mark Duff declined to release information about the incident.
Hoby Taylor, Pilgrim's president, said McCracken has been renting ice time for men's hockey games for many years.
"He's a very, very nice man," Taylor said. "It's very rare that something like this happens."
Taylor said McCracken's group usually skates Sunday mornings, but they had to reschedule for later in the day.
During festivities celebrating the Hingham Police Department's 100th anniversary in 2007, the recently retired McCracken was honored in a ceremony for his service to the town.
|
Most Commented Articles