Westport Weston Family Y staff member Michael Friedman shows the AED device he used to resuscitate a man last Friday.

Photo Credit: Vanessa Inzitari

This is one of three AED units on hand at the Westport Weston Family Y.

Photo Credit: Vanessa Inzitari

Michael Freidman, a Westport Weston Family Y staff member, is a former EMT from the Weston Fire Department.

Photo Credit: Vanessa Inzitari

WESTPORT, Conn. – Michael Friedman, a staffer at the Westport Weston Family Y, was in the right place at the right time Friday afternoon when a member went into cardiac arrest and fell to the ground during a game of basketball.

"I happened to be in the hallway a couple hundred feet away and a gentleman came out and said that someone passed out in the gym," said Friedman, a former emergency medical technician with the Weston Fire Department who works in the Y's Fitness Center.

Following Family Y protocol, Friedman said he grabbed a medical kit and one of the three Automated External Defibrillators, or AEDs, kept on the premises and went into the gym. There, a member's guest — a nurse — was performing chest compressions on the man, who had no pulse, Friedman said.

That's when Friedman, a Weston resident, opened the AED unit and placed the two pads onto the man's chest. From there, he followed the oral directions from the machine and administered one electric shock to the patient. Although the man regained a pulse, Friedman said he had to perform rescue breathing because he was not yet breathing.

"I made sure his airway was open and then started rescue breathing. Within a few breaths, [the patient] regained full respirations," Friedman said.

Shortly after, Westport police, fire and EMS arrived and the man was transported to Norwalk Hospital. He also sustained a head wound in the fall. Friedman said the man was reportedly released from the hospital Tuesday.

Although he played a critical role in saving the man's life, Friedman said he wasn't alone. Friedman said fellow Y staffer Steven Forlano, who was with him in the hallway when they were alerted to the situation, assisted him throughout the emergency. The guest who began chest compressions also played an important role, Friedman said.

Of course, he credits the AED, and the training he's received, not just from the Weston Fire Department as an EMT, but also at the Y.

"I have the same training as everyone else in this building, so if it wasn't me, someone else would have done it," said Friedman, pointing out that all Y staffers receive extensive CPR training and are trained to use the AEDs.

"This man went home because of this truly incredible machine and the people who are trained to use it. If that's not evidence that people should learn CPR and have an AED around, I don't know what is."

Do you know CPR? If not, will you consider taking classes? (Learn more about CPR classes here.)