It was thanks to several coincidences that a driver from Switzerland was able to receive help so quickly on Friday evening in Mondsee. The 66-year-old had to stop his car at a rest area next to the A1 after suffering health problems. The man then got out and collapsed on a grass verge. Not far away, two police officers from the Seewalchen motorway police station had just filled up their patrol car at a gas station. “When I wanted to pay in the gas station shop, a foreign tourist suddenly ran up to me and shouted ‘Emergency! Emergency!’ in English,” said one of the two, 27-year-old district inspector Markus Altmanninger, in an interview with OÖN. The eyewitness told the officer that a man was lying on the grass and could not breathe.
Doctor came to help
Together with his colleague Christoph Münzner, Altmanninger ran to the Swiss man, who was no longer breathing and had already turned blue in the face. Foam was also coming out of his mouth. The officers immediately began performing CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. They were assisted by a doctor, who also happened to be at the rest area, and her husband. A defibrillator, which has been carried in the police car for six months, was also used.
“After five to ten minutes, an emergency doctor finally arrived and took care of the patient’s further treatment,” says Altmanninger. When the 66-year-old was stable enough, he was flown to the Wels Clinic in the “Martin 3” emergency helicopter. According to the doctors, heart problems that occurred during the journey may have caused the collapse. A heart attack was ruled out. The man may have had heart problems before. The police found a box of medicines marked “For emergencies” on the passenger seat of his car.
Life-saving “Defi”
The two police life savers will probably always remember this operation. “Luck played a big role in this case. We were in the right place at the right time,” said the police officer. “And when you have adrenaline in your body, you function pretty well even in such difficult operations.” The fact that they had a defibrillator with them was also life-saving. “Every police car should be equipped with one,” says Altmanninger.
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Source: Nachrichten
