ATLANTA, Ga. (CBS46) -- Cobb County Fire & Emergency Services shared "a pretty cool story" via Facebook Thursday.
On May 11, Gary Phillips was swimming at the Northwest Family YMCA when he had a heart attack in the pool, lost consciousness, and sank under the water.
"Did you know that the Metro Atlanta YMCA’s have a safety system that will set off an alarm when it detects that a person has been motionless, underwater for 10 seconds? I didn't." the Facebook post read.
That alarm sounded and first responders Jonathan Knowles, Alyson Arrington, and Jose Gonzales immediately responded, removed Mr. Phillips from the pool, and began CPR.
This is not the first time that someone has experienced cardiac arrest at the Northwest YMCA; about 10 years ago, Jim Flippin was swimming in the very same pool when he had a heart attack and the YMCA crew performed CPR on him until fire and ambulance crews arrived to provide advanced care and transport to the hospital. Mr. Flippin and his wife, Paula, were so grateful to the quick and professional actions of the YMCA crew that they donated an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) to the Northwest Family YMCA. The very same AED that was used to save the life of Gary Phillips a couple of months ago!
As Jonathan was doing compressions and Alyson was giving rescue breaths, Jose applied the Flippin's AED and administered 2 shocks before Cobb Fire and Metro Atlanta Ambulance Service crews arrived and assumed care.
"We'd like to give a Huge thank you to all of the folks in the Chain-of-Survival"
The YMCA crew included:
Alyson Arrington
Jonathan Knowles
Jose Gonzales
Erika Swales
Elizabeth Janda
Becky Cross
Emergency Communications Operator: Daniel Morgan
Engine 18:
Lt. Pat McGrail
FF Raymond Gonzales
FF Andrew Darrough
FF Maxwell Strickland
The Cobb County Fire and Rescue 24 included:
Lt. Michael Brinkley
FF Aaron Bennett
They also sent a huge thank you to Jim and Paula Flippin for their life-saving donation of the AED, as well as other nurses and doctors from WellStar Kennestone Hospital.
Copyright 2021 WGCL-TV (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved.
According to WGCL -TV in Atlanta
