Two-time lifesaver Art Jones was praised again last week when, for the second time, he was credited with shocking a middle-aged hockey player and heart attack victim back from the dead on the ice at a local arena.
In his latest feat of heroics Thursday night, Jones, 53, a 20-year veteran senior operator at the MasterCard Centre for Hockey Excellence, was just an hour into his evening shift when he heard shouted calls for help for a downed hockey player at around 5 p.m.
"I was at the other end of the lobby with my partner, Marco, and I just said 'call 911' and we started running and I grabbed the defibrillator and in I went," he said, noting the arena has two public access defibrillators on-site for such incidents.
When Jones arrived at the scene, he found a 52-year-old regular named Wally down on the ice - unconscious, but still breathing.
Still, Jones knew from experience that things could take a turn for the worse, so he cleared the crowd surrounding the victim and prepared for the inevitable. The first time Jones fell upon such a scene was three years ago at the old Lakeshore Lions Arena - then, like Thursday, he was required to put his CPR and cardiopulmonary resuscitation/defibrillation training to work to save a life.
"When I got over to (Wally) I started pulling out the unit and got his shirt up just in case he went down and, sure enough, he started going blue and stopped breathing. I had to slap the pads on his chest and hit him with a jolt," Jones recalled.
With just the one reviving jolt, Wally's eyes fluttered, his heart restarted and he was breathing again, albeit with laboured breaths, Jones said.
Mere tense minutes later, "the cavalry" arrived and fire department and paramedics took over. The victim was quickly transported to hospital, where he is said to be en route to a full recovery - thanks to Jones.
"When people step up to the plate and take responsibility to help each other, like Art did, we see a true hero in our midst," said Etobicoke-Lakeshore Councillor Mark Grimes.
For Jones, though, it isn't the praise, but knowing that he saved a life that means most to him. He recently received a visit at the MasterCard Centre from Wally's 20-something son, who swung by to say 'thanks for saving my old man.'
"It's just one of those things, you know? People should take the training and get a defibrillator in the office. For $2,000 you're saving one life, and guess what? That person is now going to see Christmas and the kids' birthdays and the grandkids grow up - all the really important stuff," he said.
Toronto EMS paramedics respond to more than 2,000 cases of cardiac arrest each year. The 600 public access defibrillators the City of Toronto oversees in schools, arenas, community centres, office buildings and fitness facilities, Grimes said, help save lives when that happens.
For more information on learning CPR/AED, call Toronto EMS at 416-392-9833, or email emscpr@toronto.ca