By EMS1 Staff
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. — An off-duty firefighter-EMT saved his friend and fellow firefighter after he suffered cardiac arrest during a hockey game.
WCVB reported that Michael Dimond, who has been a firefighter for 20 years and an EMT for almost 30, had just finished a hockey game when another firefighter collapsed.
“I was skating to the bench and the guys started yelling ‘Mike, Mike,’” Dimond said.
Dimond jumped into action and began performing CPR on his friend while one player grabbed an AED and another called 911.
“I couldn’t feel a pulse,” Dimond said. “All I could think was, ‘Please come back, please come back. Don’t do this here. Not like this.’”
Dimond used the AED on the man, and his heart suddenly began to beat and his eyes opened. Dimond said he was conscious and talking, but could not move.
“In my career, that is only the second time I have seen somebody come back, and talking, from something like that,” Dimond said. “I have done CPR hundreds of times, but nothing like this has happened before while I was off duty.”