Crime & Safety
CPR Help From Onlookers Helps Revive Bicyclist
The quick response of two trained onlookers and local rescue crews helped save a man who went into cardiac arrest during a fundraising bike ride in Hamilton on Sunday.
A 47-year bicyclist taking part in Sunday’s fundraising bicycle ride was saved thanks to the quick response of two trained bystanders and local emergency crews.
The unnamed man was returning from one of the four bicycle routes and was about to pull into – the start and finish area – when he went into cardiac arrest along Highland Street. Two spectators stepped forward and within a minute began CPR. Others called 911.
The first 911 call came in to the Hamilton-Wenham Emergency Center at 1:15 p.m. and by 1:16 p.m. CPR was underway, according to Hamilton firefighter Skip Mullen, who was on scene.
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All along, the dispatcher kept responding rescue crews up to date with “timely information,” according to the .
The two onlookers who stepped up were not identified other than to say they are a married couple – the wife is a registered nurse and the husband is an EMT.
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A minute after they began CPR, Sgt. Stephen Trepanier arrived. A minute later, a defibrillator shock was administered to the man, police said.
The combination of clearing his airway, the CPR and defibrillator shock meant the bicyclist began to breath and had a pulse at 1:24 p.m., Mullen said.
Rescue crews said it wasn’t a crash or fall that led to the man going it to cardiac arrest.
Lyons Ambulance took him to Beverly Hospital. His name and condition was not available on Monday.
In addition to Lyons Ambulance, a crew from Beauport Ambulance from Gloucester assisted. Beauport was hired by the event organizers, the American Diabetes Association, to standby at the event. , which had four course of varying length that wound all around the North Shore on Sunday.
“Teamwork by all agencies made for a good outcome (on Sunday),” the Hamilton Fire Department said in a press release. “The early intervention by off-duty emergency personnel, couple with the town of Hamilton’s fire and police response and Beauport and Lyons Ambulance response, is the kind of teamwork that gives the best chance for a good outcome in an emergency.”
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