By FireRescue1 Staff
NEWBURGH, N.Y. — A firefighter was on his way to vacation last week when he and his wife revived an unconscious man at the airport.
Firefighter James Brugger and his wife Mindy, who is an EMT and CPR instructor, were about to board a flight to Florida when they saw the man lying on the ground.
“We were in the coffee shop and there was a lot of commotion,” Brugger told the Poughkeepsie Journal. “I went out into the hallway and saw a gentleman lying on the ground.”
Brugger and another firefighter who was at the airport immediately grabbed a public-access AED while a bystander performed CPR and Brugger’s wife monitored the man’s response. The 65-year-old man regained consciousness a few minutes later.
The Bruggers and other bystanders treated the man until paramedics arrived. Officials reported the man suffered a massive heart attack, and had first responders not been in the area, the outcome may have been different.
“For something bad to happen, he had all the right stuff around,” State Police Spokesman Steven Nevel said.