Man in Cardiac Arrest Revived by Emergency Workers

A 65-year man living at the in Port Jefferson Station was revived by emergency workers after going into cardiac arrest Sunday morning and taken to Mather Hospital. Workers at the adult home called 911 after the man identified only as Roger had passed out and was not breathing. A health aide worker at the adult home said by phone that a family member confirmed his condition was very serious.

Sixth precinct police officers Sal Dabbraccio and Greg Pranzo responded to the call to 911 that the man was not breathing. When they got to the scene they determined that the man was in cardiac arrest.

“When we arrived, the health care aide was pretty distraught,” said Dabbraccio. “It’s not a medical facility and there’s no medical professionals there.”

Dabbraccio said that he and his partner were led by the aide to the man who was sitting in a couch.

“He was not breathing and he had no pulse,” Dabbraccio said. 

The officers laid the man down on the floor onto his back and Pranzo started administering chest compressions. A defibrillator was used but according to Dabbraccio it did not administer a charge.

“We worked on him for about 2 to 3 minutes by ourselves,” he said.

After that the parametics arrived and intubated him by inserting a tube in his mouth to open his airway. Dabbraccio said that from the time they arrived until paramedics had him breathing again was about 10 to 15 minutes. The paramedics from Terryville Fire Department then transported the patient to John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson.

A woman who answered the phone at Echo Arms Adult Home but did not identify herself said that the patient was “not doing well.”

“He’s on life support now,” she said. “He was in full cardiac arrest and they brought him back.” 

She said that Echo Arms Adult Homes contacted the man’s next of kin, a brother who lives in Riverhead and a sister in Connecticut.

The brother went to the hospital and called to update the staff at Echo Arms on his condition.

The Echo Arms worker–who called the victim Roger–said that he was in the home after suffering a break down of some sort and that he’d been homeless previous to coming to the adult home. She said there were a lot of people who were upset about what happened to him.

“We had a few residents who were very close with Roger,” she said.