‘A life was saved that day’: Spokane Falls student administers CPR to golfer in Liberty Lake Golf Course parking lot
Jan. 10, 2023 Updated Wed., Jan. 11, 2023 at 10:31 p.m.
By Garrett Cabeza
garrettc@spokesman.com
(509) 459-5135
Ethan Moriniti rushed to an unconscious man’s aid last fall at the Liberty Lake Golf Course, started chest compressions and shocked him with a defibrillator to help save the 67-year-old’s life.Moriniti, 20, credited a first aid course he completed in June at Spokane Falls Community College for the skills he applied the afternoon of Oct. 2.
“Never thought I’d actually have to use it but four months later, I had to use it,” he said. Moriniti, a Central Valley High School graduate, said he arrived for his 2 p.m. job shift where he works at the front desk checking golfers in to play. He said he noticed a man sitting on the trunk of a car in the parking lot. The man, Mark Des Rosiers, said he got dizzy and lightheaded while walking to the 12th hole of the course but was able to tee off and hit his second shot at the hole. His symptoms did not improve, though, so one of his friends drove him back to the parking lot. That’s when Moriniti noticed him.
“As I was taking off my shoes and such: That was the last thing I remember before the EMTs finish Moriniti said the fire department showed up two minutes later.
“The way Ethan took over and such and doing CPR as well as using the AED helped keep me going until the EMTs finished reviving me,” Des Rosiers said.He said he does not recall Moriniti providing aid because he was unconscious. Moriniti said Des Rosiers’ status improved after the AED shock and after firefighters gave him oxygen. “He was answering questions once they put him on oxygen,” Moriniti said. “He got noticeably better once the AED machine was used.”
Des Rosiers said a clogged artery led to the heart attack. That afternoon, doctors put a stent where the blockage occurred and Des Rosiers was back on the golf course two weeks later. Des Rosiers, a 29-year Spokane Valley resident and recent retiree from Travelers Insurance, said he thanked Moriniti after the emergency and said he may not be alive without him. “I’m just glad that Ethan was there and stepped in to help out,” he said.
Moriniti said he was “shell-shocked,” and his mind raced when he learned of the potential emergency.“I didn’t know what was happening,” he said. “This is the first time that I’ve ever seen it before.”
