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Firefighters use donation to save life
Enquirer Herald
August 10, 2006
Adam O'Daniel
Staff Writer
YORK - A York woman is still alive today thanks to the hard work of rescue workers and a donation from a local business.
York fire chief Dominic Manera and firefighter  Jordan Austin saved an elderly woman's life on July 28th by administering CPR and rescue treatment for more than 10 minutes while waiting for an ambulance to arrive.
The woman, whose name could not be released by medical officials, passed out while driving her car and ran off the road because she was having a heart attack, Manera said.
While all available EMS units were responding to other calls, Manera and Austin went to the scene with an Automatic External Defibrillator (AED), a small device that can restart the heart during heart failure. The duo used the AED eight times to keep the woman alive until an ambulance arrived.
"It was the difference," Manera said. "Without the AED, there was no way she would have survived that day."
The AED device was donated to the York Fire Department almost two years ago by York Electric Cooperative.
Paul Basha, CEO of York Electric Co-op, said when his company spent $36,000 on 30 devices, one for every fire department in York County, he hoped it would be used to save a life.
"It tickles me to death to know it helped somebody's life," Basha said. "We believe it's going to save many more in the future."
Basha said because the company is owned by community shareholders, he wanted to provide local rescue workers something that would help people.
"We're a part of the community, and this is a way we can give back to it," Basha said.
Manera said seeing the community invest money in equipment that saves lives is encouraging. He and Austin saw the woman in the hospital this week, and she was making a good recovery.
"Those don't happen everyday," Manera said. "But me and Jordan, we didn't do anything different than anyone else up here would have done."
Related links:
Letter from Domenic Manera, Fire Chief, City of York »
Firefighters get lifesaving devices, thanks to co-op members »
Operation Round Up »
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