CORNWALL, Ontario – Quick response, along with the right training and right equipment helped Cornwall’s emergency services save a man’s life recently.
While working the night shift on July 13, 2017, three members of the Cornwall Community Police Service (CCPS) responded to a call at the home of Richard Duperron. Duperron’s wife had called emergency services after her husband collapsed.
Being closest, Constables Kim Norman, Casey McGregor and Jennifer Payment arrived on the scene first.
“When we arrived the patient was on the ground and unresponsive,” said Cst. McGregor. “He was turning gray and we couldn’t find a pulse.”
All three officers began administering CPR to Mr. Duperron and prepared to use their Zoll AED Plus defibrillator.
They applied the defibrillator three times and after a third time, they found that Mr. Duperron had regained his pulse. It was around this time that paramedics Elizabeth Hill and Andrew Van der Heyden arrived on the scene and continued to administer life saving measures as they took Duperron to hospital. In all, from the time police arrived on the scene, the whole incident transpired in about 10 minutes.
“If we didn’t have that (the defibrillator), I don’t think we would have saved him,” said Cst. Kim Norman.
For the three officers it was their first time using the defibrillator. The Zoll AED defibrillators are carried by 13 police cruisers and are provided to the CCPS by the Cornwall SDG Paramedics Service through their Public Access Defibrillator Program.
Around 25 minutes after the police officers arrived on scene, they went to the hospital and found that Duperron was awake and talking.
“This really shows the importance of early recognition and CPR,” said Paramedic Elizabeth Hill. “It can save a life.”
Duperron got a chance to meet the officers and paramedics who saved his life at the Paramedic station on Campbell Rd. on Friday, Sept. 1.
He thanked all of them for saving his life and said that he remembered nothing from the incident. He said for him it was like going to sleep and waking up in the hospital.
“Without the efforts of the Police Officers and Paramedics in those critical first few minutes, the outcome my have been entirely different,” said Commander Brad Nuttley of the Paramedic Services. “The act of performing CPR and using an AED prior to Paramedics arrival provided the window of opportunity needed for the successful treatment of the casualty and the restoration of breathing and circulation.”
