Full Notification

City of Petaluma, California
  
Press Release
 
Fire Department, 198 D Street, Petaluma, CA  94952
(707) 778-4390 / Fax (707) 931-0668 /  E-mail: [email protected]
 
Date:   August 26, 2017
 
Time:  9:47am
 
Location:  Rooster Run Golf Course, 2301 East Washington Street, Petaluma
 
Type of Incident:  Medical Emergency, Cardiac Arrest
 
Units Responding:  Petaluma’s Engine 9383 and Ambulance Medic 993
 
Outside Agencies:  none
 
Narrative:  On the morning of Saturday August 26^th 2017 at 9:47am Petaluma Fire Department Station 3 units were dispatched to the Rooster Run Golf Course for a cardiac arrest on the course.  Bystanders on the golf course started CPR, called 911, and notified the courses club house.  Personnel at the club house retrieved the AED that had recently been installed and rushed it to the 14^th hole.  Bystanders and staff deployed the AED and delivered a total of three shocks to the downed man.  While en route, dispatch updated fire units about CPR being in progress and that an AED had been deployed.  When fire units arrived they and their gear were escorted by staff with several golf carts to the patient who was a long distance from the club house with limited vehicle access.  Once fire crews arrived at the patient’s side, they discovered that the patient was breathing on his own and had a pulse.  Fire personnel stabilized and packaged the patient and then worked on a plan to remove him from the course.  The primary and back-up plans included the use of a Petaluma Police pick-up truck and an air ambulance.  Crews were able to timely coordinate the use of a bystander’s pick-up truck through a rear access gate to move the patient into an adjacent neighborhood where the fire department ambulance had been relocated to.  The patient remained in stable condition during the extraction from the course and during transport via Petaluma Fire ambulance Medic 993 to the Cardiac center in Santa Rosa. 
 
This event highlights the importance of bystander CPR and public access to AED’s (Automated External Defibrillators). 
 
CPR “buys time” for first responders to arrive with advanced life support medications and defibrillation devices.  CPR keeps vital organs like the heart and brain oxygenated so they are more likely to respond to advanced life support interventions.  People that receive bystander CPR before the arrival of first responders have a three times higher likelihood of survival over those that don’t. 
 
Automated External Defibrillators (AED’s) can actually shock someone’s heart into beating normally again.  These devises are easy to use.  They talk the bystander through the process and will not shock the person unless they need it.  The bystander needs only to turn on the AED and listen to the instructions, without fear of doing any harm.  People should not be afraid of AED’s.  Both CPR and the use of the AED will drastically improve a person’s chance of survival during a cardia arrest!
 
Public access AED’s have recently been placed in several Petaluma locations through generous donations and coordination by public, private, and community organizations.  Some include the Petaluma Fire Department, the Petaluma Healthcare District’s “Heartsafe Community” program, Cruisin’ the Boulevard’s “Save a Life” program, Save Lives Sonoma, and this specific AED at Rooster Run was donated by the Petaluma Valley Rotary only a year ago. 
 
“Hands-Only” CPR is sanctioned by the American Heart Association and only takes a few minutes to learn and practice.  Their motto is “Anyone can be a Hero.  Learn CPR.”  For more information regarding “Hands-Only” CPR, please consider visiting www.heart.org/handsonlycpr, https://www.facebook.com/heartsafepetaluma and http://cityofpetaluma.net/firedept/ems.html.
 
To watch videos about “Hands-Only” CPR, please visit:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5hP4DIBCEE
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1ExB8yCxc8
 
 
Jeff Schach
A-Shift Battalion Chief
Petaluma Fire Department