One Hockey Player Saves Another

Hockey

June 2, 2011 - A Montana hockey goalie who suffered a sudden cardiac arrest was saved by the quick action of rescuers using an automated external defibrillator (AED) installed at the rink. Wes Sink had just finished playing a league game when he collapsed on the ice. The bystanders, one of whom was a physician, began CPR and then used the AED Plus® to analyze the victim and administer a shock. That AED was installed in the name of Lynn Montgomery, another hockey player who died in that same rink three years ago.

The hospital physician who treated the 49-year-old Sink believes that the shock saved his life. The average survival rate of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest each year is 7 percent.¹ If an AED is used by a bystander, the rate increases to 38 percent.²

¹American Heart Association. Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics – 2009 Update. Dallas, Texas: American Heart Association, 2009.
² Weisfeldt ML, Sitlani CM, Ornato JP, et al., on behalf of the ROC Investigato itrs. J Am Coll Cardiol 2010;55:1713-17.