Lynbrook first responders team up to save mother of 2

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Lynbrook first responders joined forces on the morning of April 22 to save the life of a Lynbrook woman who was in cardiac arrest.

At 9:26 a.m. that Sunday morning, the Lynbrook Fire Department was dispatched after hearing a report of a 43-year-old unresponsive woman at a home on Dorothy Place. Assistant Chief John Donald, while responding to the scene, was notified by radio that Lynbrook police officers were at the home and had begun CPR on the unidentified mother of two.

When Donald arrived, at the same time as a Northwell Health ambulance, Lynbrook Police Sgt. Sean Haffey led him to the second floor, where LPD officer Kevin Hoffman was performing chest compressions to the woman, who was lying on the bedroom floor and not breathing. Another officer, Jeff Burke, was administering rescue breaths using a bag valve mask and also monitoring the automatic external defibrillator. The officers had already administered a shock from the AED without success. Donald announced over the radio that there was a confirmed cardiac arrest.

The police officers then administered a second shock from the AED. They again found no response. As chest compressions and rescue breaths continued, Donald relieved Hoffman and maintained the chest compressions while an EMT from Northwell relieved Burke and continued rescue breaths. A Northwell paramedic assisted by assessing the woman and applying life support techniques.

Soon after, the Lynbrook Fire Department Emergency Medical Company ambulance arrived. Lynbrook EMT and ex-Captain Cathy Bien and Lynbrook firefighter and EMT Alex Mertz worked on the woman. As the effort went on, Lynbrook firefighter and EMT Shannon Tracy relieved Bien.

While the rescue effort continued upstairs, Lynbrook EMT/First Lieutenant Kaitlyn Curran and EMT/Second Lieutenant Kacie Curran obtained vital medical information from the woman’s husband and also assisted with the family’s two small children.

Meanwhile, numerous cycles of CPR continued with the first responders rotating while also continuing to shock the woman. Finally, a faint pulse was obtained. Northwell supervisor and paramedic Keith Wilken arrived with a CPR device, which replaced manual compressions.

With the woman alive, the team of first responders had to get her down from the second floor. Because of the tight layout of the house, the woman had to be loaded into a sleeve to carry her downstairs and onto a waiting stretcher.

She was transported in the Northwell ambulance, escorted by a Lynbrook police car, to South Nassau Communities Hospital, in Oceanside. The woman was placed in the cardiac care unit in serious but stable condition.

She is continuing to recover and is in rehabilitation.

“The prompt, continued, and unselfish acts of all Lynbrook’s first responders on the scene were instrumental in successfully rendering aid and assistance to another human being resulting in the saving of this resident’s life,” said LFD Chief William Abrams. “They all deserve our thanks.”