Life Saved by Equipment Lowey Secured for Local EMS
PORT CHESTER — Jose Estrada collapsed this summer on the track at Port Chester High School and could have died if he hadn't gotten help from David Rich and a new CPR machine from the local EMS group.
"God protected me and put all these pieces together to keep me alive," Estrada said. "All these people and equipment came together to keep me alive."
Rep. Nita Lowey helped secure a $44,800 federal grant to help the Port Chester-Rye-Rye Brook EMS buy four automatic cardiopulmonary resuscitation systems that helped save Estrada's life on June 15. On Monday, Lowey watched a demonstration of the equipment at the EMS group's headquarters and met Estrada and David Rich, a Connecticut resident who performed CPR on Estrada that day until emergency services arrived.
"For me to see this grant in action is extremely gratifying," Lowey said. "It's tremendously overwhelming to see the connection between the equipment and the life saved."
Port Chester-Rye-Rye Brook EMS has been training on these automatic systems for months, but Estrada's heart failure was the first time medics used it in a real-life scenario. The group is one of the only units in the Hudson Valley to have the machines, and Lowey said she'd now like to see other municipalities get them.
Rich, who grew up in White Plains, was playing catch with his son at the high school that day when someone alerted him about a man collapsing on the track.
Estrada was preparing to run on the track and said he had no prior pain or warning before he blacked out and fell facedown. Rich performed CPR on Estrada and alerted people nearby to call 911. Help arrived shortly after.
"I turned him over, did my quick assessment, and basically I was on autopilot," Rich said. "With no CPR, he would unfortunately not have made it."
EMS Capt. Jeffrey Casas said that when he and others arrived at the scene, Estrada's vital signs were bad. His heart was beating, but it appeared blood in his body wasn't flowing.
"It's considered a lethal rhythm, and essentially he was dead," Casas said.
The EMS attached the automatic CPR system to Estrada's chest, and it performed chest compressions in the ambulance en route to Greenwich Hospital in Connecticut.
Estrada regained consciousness about two days later.
Estrada said doctors deemed him to be in good health and have been unable to explain why his heart gave out that day.
