Since his heart attack, John Turco was surrounded by people who saved his life. The 51-year old was truly grateful as he shook their hands.
Turco was at the city hall as Mayor John Tory official announced Feb 14 as “Safe City Day”. The Toronto Paramedic Services operate a program called City Safe which provides yearly CPR and AED training. According to Turco, he would not be alive today if he was not surrounded by friends who had this training.
Timely action
Turco was playing pickup basketball at Neil McNeil High School. He was also a physical education teacher. He was already playing for more than an hour when a friend asked if wanted to continue with one more game. After saying that he is willing, it was the last thing he remembers.
Gerald Rozario was playing on Turco’s team and there were no signs of any issues early in the game. Rozario and Turco scored a basket and were backpedaling to the defensive court when he collapsed.
Rozario yelled out for someone to call for emergency assistance and requested another player to get a defibrillator. Rozario and 2 men immediately started CPR. According to Rozario, he was able to take a course but he never thought that he would do it in a real-life situation.
When they could not get a pulse, they decided to attach the defibrillator. In no time, the emergency team arrived on the scene. Steven Deans was the first paramedic to help Turco. According to Deans, his chest was moving up and down.
According to paramedic Chris Miller, everything was under control when he got to the scene thanks to the fast action of Turco’s friends.
For more information about this story, click here.
LEARN MORE
Learn how to help by enrolling in a first aid and CPR class and for more information, check out these sources:
https://www.webmd.com/first-aid/default.htm
https://www.news-medical.net/health/What-is-a-Defibrillator.aspx
https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/qa/what-is-cardiopulmonary-resuscitationcpr