Ottawa Paramedics are praising the quick intervention of bystanders at a Kanata martial arts club after a 51-year-old man collapsed while competing for his second-degree black belt.
Paramedics say this happened at a martial arts centre on Stonehaven Drive at around 3 p.m. Saturday when the patrons at the crowded club helped to administer CPR on the man who had stopped breathing and had no pulse. Another bystander called 911 and was told there was a defibrillator at a nearby Community Centre parking lot. The defibrillator was activated by a dentist working at a nearby office.
When paramedics arrived on scene the man had a pulse and regained consciousness by the time he was being taken away from the scene.
A press release from paramedics says this is a "good example of the key elements in the chain of survival: early notification of 911, early bystander CPR, early defibrillation, and early paramedic care."
The patient is in serious but stable condition.