Quick thinking shopping centre manager saves pensioner after heart attack

Date Published: 17-Apr-2013

There were emotional scenes at a hospital bedside this week as a Galway pensioner, recovering from a heart attack, met up with the man who helped to save his life.

Bill Lydon (83), from Moylough, suffered a cardiac arrest in Galway Shopping Centre shortly after 5pm on March 20 – but thanks to the quick thinking and CPR skills of the centre’s Deputy Manager Giovanni Carroll and security guard Pawel Pomianek, Mr Lydon’s life was saved.

Indeed Bill’s was one of two lives saved in Galway over the last month as a result of CPR and defibrillators.

On this occasion, the two men rushed to the scene after a customer told them a man had collapsed in the toilets.

When they could not find a pulse, Mr Carroll said the men went into ‘autopilot’. “Our training kicked in and we knew exactly what to do,” he stated.

The defibrillator records show that they did CPR for just over twelve minutes, until the ambulance arrived.

All of this happened unbeknownst to Mr Lydon’s wife Bridie, who was grocery shopping at the time. She recalled how the couple had planned to go for a cup of tea once she had finished shopping, but when she returned her husband was nowhere to be seen.

She asked a cleaner for assistance and was then introduced to Mr Carroll, who informed her of the situation.

“He very kindly accompanied me to the hospital,” said Mrs Lydon, who added that he has kept in touch since the incident to see how her husband is doing.

See this week’s Connacht Tribune for full story.