Wayne County EMS Coordinator Paul Fera says a dispatcher went into cardiac arrest while working in the Wayne County 911 Center on May 26. Fera says coworkers noticed right away and got her to the floor to start CPR. He says the supervisor grabbed the AED and other coworkers delivered a shock from it. While trying to save the dispatcher, Fera says other coworkers were still answering the phones, answering radio transmissions and taking care of county emergencies. “To say this was starling to the coworkers in the 911 center at the time is an understatement,” said Fera. “They are used to doing it over the phone and here they are doing it in person on a coworker with her life literally in the hands of the people she works with.” After the AED was used on the dispatcher, Fera says she regained a pulse shortly after and was brought to Rochester General Hospital by a Mercy flight. According to Fera, a doctor at Rochester General says the dispatcher’s coworkers “literally saved her life.” Fera also says there is talks of getting her off a venting tube soon, and they hope to see her back at work in the near future.
