A Bolton firefighter and a resident -- revived two months ago at the same incident -- hugged and shook the hands of those who made their appearance possible.
On Oct. 9, Bolton firefighters responed to an unresponsive man in his house.
“As I walked in, he (Dave) wasn’t breathing. He did not have a pulse. I said to Chief (Bruce) Dixon, ‘Call a code,’” said Chuck Rexroad, an EMT Instructor, told WFSB.
More personnel responded, including Firefighter Steve Clark.
“I started to feel a little lightheaded. I went to brace myself and that’s pretty much what I remember,” Clark recalled.
“When I came up on the porch, Steve had collapsed...in full cardiac arrest," Lt. Dan Ross said.
“We started CPR. A couple of other firefighters came in and started cutting off his clothes, getting ready to put heart pads on him. That’s when the medic came around with his pads out ready to go,” he explained.
Crews used a defibrillator to bring Steve back while EMT instructor Chuck Rexroad worked on Dave, the original patient.
“I was basically holding Dave’s airway open for 15 minutes,” said Rexroad.
Dave remembers waking up in the hospita, happy to be alive.
Both spent time in the hospital recovering.
This week, about 20 first responders from Bolton fire, the ambulance service of Manchester, and Tolland County 911 were given certificates and a challenge coin saying, ‘CPR saved two lives. Every second counts.’
“The two individuals who stood in front of us this evening and said, ‘thank you,’ that puts a smile on your face,” said Chief Dixon said.
“If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be here,” Clark said of his colleagues.
“There’s no thanks that can thank the people that did their thing. There’s no way I could thank them,” Dave added.
Clark, who had his aorta replaced and some arteries unclogged, has a goal in mind -- to return to responding next month.
Bolton firefighter collapses during call, CPR saves victim and firefighter
