Defibrillator at LA Fitness saves man’s life

Defibrillator at LA Fitness saves man’s life.

Before opening LA Fitness at the Lowe’s plaza every morning, manager Brent Riberdy said staff have to test the Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) to make sure it’s working.

The hope, of course, is that staff won’t have to use the life-saving machine but they are trained to use it in a worse-case scenario.

Last Friday morning was one of those worst-case scenarios.

According to witness Rick Simpson, an unidentified man working out at the gym, fell and hit his head. “He probably had a heart attack,” the witness speculated.

Simpson, who is the former deputy fire chief of Toronto, made his way over to the scene where there was already a firefighter performing CPR.

“He was bloody in the middle of the gym floor,” he said.

Simpson also noted LA Fitness staff had retrieved the defibrillator and followed the step-by-step user guide correctly. The machine instructed to shock and, within 10 minutes, the man on the floor had gone from cardiac arrest to being able to speak, Simpson said.

“They did everything right,” Simpson said. “They saved this man’s life.”

Without the quick actions of the firefighter who performed chest compressions and staff who used the defibrillator, things could have been tragic, Simpson said.

Riberdy was thankful staff and customers responded so quickly to the situation. He said his staff was on standby with the device and ended up having to use it. “I don’t remember ever having to use it before,” he said.

According to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, when defibrillation, combined with CPR, is immediately administered, it can increase the likelihood of survival by 75 per cent.

A defibrillator is a device used to identify cardiac rhythms and deliver a shock to correct abnormal electrical activity in the heart. The operator will only be advised to deliver a shock if the heart is in a rhythm that can be corrected by defibrillation. If a shockable rhythm is not detected, no shock can be given and the provider will be instructed to administer CPR until emergency medical services arrive.

While defibrillators are most often used by trained individuals, the Heart and Stroke Foundation said they are safe and easy to use by almost anyone.

LA Fitness employees involved in the rescue turned down the opportunity for a photo.

The condition of the man is unknown after he was taken to hospital.

LA Fitness head office would not allow their employees’ names to be published or a photograph to be taken.