The moment nearly everyone in attendance was watching came just before Pennsbury High School’s graduation started in mid-June.
A man went into cardiac arrest. There were calls for help and then a group of emergency responders from the police department, fire companies, rescue squad, and school district all ran toward the incident.
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There wasn’t a single sign of hesitation or delay. They just went.
Chest compressions were performed, an automated external defibrillator aided with resuscitation efforts, and the man was loaded on a stretcher as thousands of people watched. Shortly after packaging the patient up, police cars escorted the ambulance from the Levittown-Fairless Hills Rescue Squad to the hospital.
Due to the fast work of emergency crews, the man survived.
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Falls Township Chief of Police William Wilcox took time earlier this month at the Board of Supervisors meeting to present citations 10 police, fire and rescue squad members, along with Pennsbury school personnel who helped save the man.
The 10 responders who received the Lifesaving Award from the police department were: Mike Lowe, Joe Tomcjak, Mike McClellan Jr., Jim McCole, John Weiss, Gary Campbell, Steve Lowden, Brian Russell, Tony Montonario, and Rich Dippolito.
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“Our emergency services did a bang-up job,” Wilcox said. “They did a great, great job.”
Fire Marshal Rich Dippolito thanked the responders and said it was due to teamwork.
“Everybody had a hand in something,” Dippolito said. “It worked out well.”
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The incident was a very public display of what emergency crews often do without a crowd gathered around.
Aside from the cardiac arrest case, emergency crews also handled several other heat-related health scares at the graduation, Wilcox said.
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