Dr. Robin Nathanson said he was looking forward to a little vacation from his job as an ER doctor at the Lakeshore General Hospital when a sudden commotion broke out in the long customs line up at Trudeau International Airport.
He immediately sprung into action.
“I saw a gentleman on the ground at that point,” he said. “I saw he was unconscious, and I reached for a pulse. He unfortunately did not have a pulse, so I immediately started CPR on him.”
Thankfully, he said there was also a paramedic in the line, and with the aid of an automated defibrillator (AED), they were able to restore the man’s pulse eight minutes later.
By that time an ambulance arrived, and the man was taken to hospital. Dr. Nathanson said he spoke to the family, and they were grateful he was able to save their loved one.
He shared the story on social media to draw attention to the need for more CPR training, saying anyone can learn this lifesaving skill.
“I didn’t have fancy medications,” he said. “This was not a resuscitation bay in the hospital. This was the middle of the customs line at the Montreal airport with the bare, bare, bare minimum.”
According to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, 60,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in country each year, and only one in 10 people survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
The first few minutes are critical in an emergency, according to Wafi Saida, a certified Canadian Heart and Stroke instructor. He said too few people know what to do in an emergency, or they wait for an ambulance to arrive, but that could have serious consequences.
“These minutes change your life and change your survival rate, whether you have a brain injury, mental retardation or complications due to lack of oxygen and circulation to your brain,” Saida said.
While he teaches advanced CPR to health care professionals, Saida said it’s extremely important for the general public to know how to do it and how to use an AED. He offers a variety of courses, including hands-only CPR, which requires no mouth-to-mouth contact.
“I’ve taught it to my kids, my wife, she’s a daycare educator,” he said. “It’s very important in our communities to have this culture because no one is exempt from cardiac arrest.”
