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| Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Toiete Jackson | 190205-N-DG679-001 JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Feb. 5, 2019) Fire Chief Mark Brusoe, center, of First Coast Navy Fire Rescue, presented certificates of appreciation today to Naval Air Crewman Mechanical 1st Class Philip Marshall, left, and Flight Test Supervisor Manny Cabal, right, for saving the life of a contractor yesterday who suffered a massive heart attack near Hangar 124. AWF1 Marshall and Cabal called 911 and administered CPR until paramedics arrived. This, Fire Chief Brusoe said, saved the man's life. (U.S. Navy photo by Toiete Jackson/Released) |
JACKSONVILLE, FL, UNITED STATES
02.06.2019
Story by Clifford Davis
Fleet Readiness Center Southeast
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Naval Air Crewman 1st Class Philip Marshall was stopped by his command’s training lead petty officer a few days ago and asked for his CPR certification card – he could never have imagined how soon that training would prove critical.
Marshall and Fleet Readiness Center Southeast Flight Test Supervisor Manny Cabal put their training into practice Monday, and saved a man’s life who had just suffered a massive heart attack, according to First Coast Navy Fire Rescue Chief Mark Brusoe.
“If CPR hadn’t been started immediately, his family – who is now with him in the hospital – would instead be planning a funeral for next week,” Brusoe said. “But because of what these two guys did, he had a stint put in and he’s recovering.”
Marshall and Cabal both work with the Flight Test crew at FRCSE, a Naval aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul facility. Once an aircraft has been repaired at the facility, it’s their job to inspect it and ensure it’s safe for the pilots to fly.
Monday morning, they were busy moving office furniture when a man came in and asked for the building designation for the hangar in which they work.
“He said, ‘One of my guys is having a heart attack,’” Marshall said.
Marshall ran to assess the situation, and grabbed the nearest coworker to call 911. That was Manny Cabal.
While Cabal called 911, Marshall returned to the victim.
“By the time I got back to him, there was no heartbeat and he was having trouble breathing,” Marshall said.
The pair put the man on his back, and began administering CPR.
“We were trying to feel for a heartbeat, and couldn’t feel one,” Cabal said. “While doing CPR, his heartbeat would come in and out, then it would stop.
“There was once or twice where he tried to gasp for air, and foam came out of his mouth – then he was just gone.”
Just as Marshall is currently, Cabal was once a Naval Air Crewman. Along with free CPR classes he’d taken through FRCSE, Cabal had also been trained to administer it in the Navy.
“The training I received always taught that you don’t stop until the experts arrive,” Cabal said. “And that’s what happened.”
Within minutes, Paramedic Shawn Wardlaw and firefighters Justin Uhrmacher and Joey Fields arrived on the scene.
“We took over CPR and put him on the cardiac monitor,” Wardlaw said. “We saw there was enough cardiac activity that, hopefully, if we shocked him, it would put the heart back on the right rhythm.”
The man’s muscles jolted with the shock. Then … a pulse.
“He got his pulse back, and we quickly loaded him up and took him to the hospital,” Wardlaw said. “He was extremely fortunate.”
Fire Chief Brusoe met with Cabal and Marshall on Tuesday in front of the fire station on board Naval Air Station Jacksonville, to present them with a certificate of appreciation for their actions. Both were happy to learn the man was expected to recover.
“Last night, I’m sure as Marshall did too, I prayed for him that he could go back to his family,” Cabal said. “So that’s great news to hear that he did make it.”
