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The San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District’s Board of Directors recently honored three citizen first responders who had been bystanders during an Alamo man’s cardiac emergency last year and took action while medical professionals were on the way to the scene.
Andrew Moore, Amy Anderson and Ryan Anderson were on the scene at Round Hill Country Club in Alamo the morning of Nov. 9 when Don Gordon experienced a cardiac emergency, immediately performing CPR on Gordon and using a defibrillator while SRVFPD crews made their way to the area.
“These people saved my life,” Gordon said in an announcement from SRVFPD on Monday. “The training that the Round Hill staff had, the jumping in from the Andersons whom I’ve never met before. We live in a crazy world right now, but they showed what it means to care about other people.”
The trio were recognized by SRVFPD directors on April 24 with a Citizen Lifesaving Award presented by Board President Jay Kerr.
“Time and time again we see responses like this in our neighborhoods where citizens step up, law enforcement steps up, someone driving down the road stops their car and helps,” said Lance Maples, emergency medical services manager, in this week’s announcement. “It’s remarkable that we live and work in a community where this happens. If it wasn’t for these three bystanders, there’s a strong chance Don wouldn’t be here.”
Gordon was given advanced life support measures once SRVFPD crews arrived and transported to the nearest hospital, later making a prompt recovery.
“I’m a baseball fan, and I got to go to Opening Day for the Giants,” Gordon said. “I had a grandson born and I got to see him at Thanksgiving and Easter. I get to watch him grow up. I’m not going to let your work go to waste. I’m back at the gym. I’m not doing exactly the workouts I was before, but, close. I can’t thank you all enough.”
SRVFPD officials pointed to the incident as a reminder of the importance of CPR training, as well as the district’s Heartsafe community program aimed at providing training to citizens, and its use of a notification system that notifies those with CPR training about nearby medical emergencies as emergency crews are being dispatched.
“If someone does witness a cardiac event, they should call 9-1-1 and then immediately begin pushing hard and fast in the center of the person’s chest, at a rate of 100 to 120 beats per minute, deploy an AED if available, and continue care until help arrives,” SRVFPD officials said in their announcement.
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