CHALMETTE, La. — Just behind Monday's Boston Marathon, the Jackson Day Race in St. Bernard, is the third-oldest runner's race in the country.
And it was at this year's race, that two sheriff's deputies unexpectedly became one man's heroes.
It was the annual Jackson Day Race in January in St. Bernard Parish. Captain Stephen Ingargiola, and Lieutenant Jorge Vargus, were working the route when a runner collapsed.
“We turn him over, and that's when he's breathing. He's still mumbling. He's incoherent, and then all of a sudden he seizes up, and he stops breathing,” remembers Captain Stephen Ingargiola, the Director of Training in the St. Bernard Sheriff’s Department.
“When you see that chest rise completely stop, it's a scary situation,” adds Lieutenant Jorge Vargus, who works as a patrol officer for the St. Bernard Sheriff’s Department.
St. Bernard deputies carry automated external defibrillators in their patrol cars. AEDs can shock a heart back into the correct beating rhythm during cardiac arrest. They put it on the runner, then started CPR, with one doing chest compressions, while the other was his breath.
It happened on St. Bernard Highway, right near the entrance to the port, where the two officers worked on the man for six whole minutes.
The AED technology is so “smart,” it told the officers it didn't need to shock the patient, but that they needed to keep doing CPR.
“Just that reassurance from the AED to say continue to do what you're doing is, was a big, I guess, ease for me,” said Captain Ingargiola.
St. Bernard Parish has had AEDs in patrol cars for years. Slidell police, NOPD, and Jefferson, St. Tammany, and St. Charles Parish deputies do not carry AEDs. St. Charles is open to considering it. NOFD and N.O. EMS do carry very advanced cardiac life support systems that do several functions.
“It's a good investment, you know. People assume we measure our success at the sheriff's office based on how many people we arrest, but that's really not it. It's on how many people we can help, and the AED is just one tool that we can use to help people,” said St. Bernard Sheriff James Pohlmann.
The man did not want to tell his story, but is grateful the men saved his life. They've gone to dinner, and he sends notes and, books to them.
“I feel like I've gained another friend,” said Captain Ingargiola.
“I really love this job,” added Lt. Vargus.
And while they were given Lifesaver awards from the Kiwanis Club, they each say all they want to do is serve.
Sheriff James Pohlmann says the number one life-saving tool his deputies use, every day, is Narcan for overdoses.