By Jamila Young
Journal Inquirer
BOLTON, Conn. — A firefighter’s duty is to respond to any type of emergency, be it a fire or a medical incident.
But on one night in October, Bolton volunteer firefighters did not expect that the emergency they responded to would include saving the life of one of their own.
On Oct. 9 , Bolton firefighters, along with the Ambulance Service of Manchester and Tolland Mutual Aid Fire Services, responded to a call of an unresponsive 68-year-old male in respiratory/cardiac arrest inside his Brandy Street home.
But as first responders provided CPR to the man and worked to have the patient transported by ambulance, 55-year-old Bolton firefighter Steven Clark went into cardiac arrest on the front porch.
“It is probably the worst thing that can happen to a fire chief,” Bolton Fire Chief Bruce Dixon said.
Both the patient and Clark received CPR, with Clark needing a defibrillator to restart his heart. They were then taken to the hospital and are recuperating.
“Our staff reacted very quickly, as we train for, and Steve is with his family and us today,” Dixon said.
To acknowledge and thank all who assisted with both incidents that night, Dixon honored the first responders and dispatch staff with life-saving certificates and commemorative coins at an award ceremony held at the fire station Monday night.
Dixon said that a total of 14 minutes of CPR was done between the patient and Clark, with 20 first responders on the scene that night.
ASM paramedic Rhys Evans said because first responders should only do CPR for two minutes before allowing someone else to take over, many are needed for one call.
“When someone’s in cardiac arrest, we need someone at the airway — at the head giving breaths, two people at the side to give compressions every two minutes so that no one gets fatigued,” he said.
“Two minutes of just CPR is extremely tiring,” ASM paramedic Valerie Adams said.
First responders are not only needed to conduct CPR, Evans said, but to work the monitor as well as monitor timing and pulse checks.
Clark, who underwent open-heart surgery, thanked his fellow first responders during Monday’s ceremony.
“I want to thank all of you who were involved, all of you who are here,” he said. “I’m not an extremely religious person, but I do say prayers at night, I do ask for guidance and I do ask for protection. I ask for me to stay healthy and strong, to be able to help protect my family, and to do what I do — to volunteer, and be safe doing it.”
Though Clark said he was “a little disappointed” by the timing of his medical incident, he knew he had the right team there for him and that if it had happened elsewhere, it may have had a different outcome.
“I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time, with the right people,” he said.
Dixon said he hopes that Clark can be back to active duty by January.
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