NEW ORLEANS —
It started out as just another night at Rock ‘n’ Bowl on South Carrollton Avenue last Thursday night.
People were having fun on the lanes. Others, like Laura Pizzano, were enjoying Zydeco dance night on the floor. But then...
“I had literally just one dance and my sister pointed behind me and said a man had just collapsed to the ground,” said Pizzano.
The man’s dance partner immediately started chest compressions on the 74-year-old. Pizzano, a registered nurse visiting from New Jersey, also stepped in.
“I went over and felt there was no pulse. He was not breathing,” said Pizzano.
The 37-year-old then started mouth-to-mouth while other customers, including an Ochsner Medical Center nurse, took turns doing the ever-so-tiring task of chest compressions on the lifeless man.
Then, staff at the alley ran in with one very important piece of life-saving equipment: A defibrillator, also known as an AED.
“We ran and got the AED machine,” said the alley’s general manager, Jimmy Hankins. “I recently purchased it six months ago. We hooked it up to him and did an additional shock.”
Then, more chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth followed by another shock.
“Then we felt a pulse. He had a pulse and then a few minutes later he opened his eye,” said Pizzano. “Then the paramedics got there and he was in a normal rhythm and his oxygen level was perfect. He started communicating with us and it was just a miracle.”
A miracle that may never had happened without teamwork and the AED. The victim’s family was told by doctors that “...only the immediate application of CPR and the subsequent use of an AED defibrillator saved his life,” a family representative wrote to WWL-TV.
“The family told me he is still in the hospital recovering. He’s probably going to need a pacemaker, but he’s doing fine and they were so happy we had the right people here,” said Hankins.
"I work in cardiac electrophysiology, so you really need to defibrillate as soon as possible if a patient needs it,” said Pizzano.