Terryville EMT Saves Fellow Paramedic’s Life

Something was very wrong.

It was about 5:30 p.m. on Monday and two Coram ambulance drivers were returning from a trip dropping off a patient to St. Charles Hospital when Bob Peters started to complain of chest pains. The EMT told his partner, Chris Rodriguez, – who was driving at the time – that he needed to go back to the hospital.

He then fell unconscious.

According to a report released by Rob Cabano, district manager of Terryville Fire Department, the driver called over to the Terryville Fire Department’s dispatcher saying he was on the way to their headquarters with Peters who was having a heart attack.

Terryville EMT Kevin Bader was arriving a little early for his 6 p.m. shift when the ambulance arrived carrying the unresponsive Peters pulled up. Apprised of the situation, Bader ran to find Peters already taken out of the ambulance by Rodriguez and on the ground in cardiac arrest.

Cabano’s report said that Bader and Rodriguez began treating Peters “aggressively.” A cardiac device showed the former rescuer now turned patient to be in what is called "ventricular fibrillation," a condition according to the report where “there is uncoordinated contraction of the cardiac muscle of the ventricles in the heart, making them quiver rather than contract properly.”

Cabano described the situation as dire. If the condition is not treated immediately, it could cause the person to “flatline,” the heart stops beating and blood stops flowing.

“As a consequence sudden cardiac death will result in a matter of minutes,” he said in the statement.

Using just one jolt of a defibrillator, Bader saved Peters’ life. His blood started flowing normally and he regained consciousness immediately.

Cabano said that the device that Bader used to save Peters' life is similar to an   automated external defibrillator (AED) commonly installed in public places and credited with saving many people who are experiencing a similar heart attack.

The difference, according to Cabano, is that the AED is able to detect a “shockable” heart rhythm because many EMTs and the general public are usually not trained to read EKGs to recognize the condition. The machine does it for you.

The device that Bader used on Peters is called a cardiac monitor, a "multifunctional piece of equipment that Mr. Bader is trained on," said Cabano.

"He is able to read and interpret EKGs and recognized Mr. Peter’s EKG was the most lethal type," he said. "Once it was recognized he was manually defibrillated."

Peters was taken to St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson by Terryville Fire District EMS and Coram Fire Department EMS personnel. He was later taken to Stony Brook University Hospital where Cabano said he is listed in stable condition.