MTA Police and LIRR employees with the automated external defribillator they used to save a man who suffered a heart attack on a U.S. Open-bound train on Friday.
By Barbara Baez
An Easthampton man suffered a heart attack en route to the 2009 U.S. Open at the Bethpage Black course was saved by the quick actions of MTA police and Long Island Rail Road conductors on Friday.
Robert Cinque, 65, was on the 7:39 a.m. train from Penn Station when he had a heart attack.
“I was really nervous,” said Robert Dibernardo, a train crew member who responded to the call for medical assistance that was put over the air and saw the passenger convulsing. MTA police officers and several LIRR employees also responded to the call of a man going into cardiac arrest.
Cinque was placed on the floor where CPR was performed. When there was no response, one shock was given using an Automated External Defibrillator. Rescuers resumed CPR and when Cinque did not respond, a second shock of the defibrillator revived him.
In the five to six minutes in which it took to resuscitate Cinque, rescuers began to worry.
“I thought he was gone,” said Dibernardo. “I thought he had no chance.”
When Cinque was stabilized and his family notified, EMS workers transported him to Saint Vincent’s hospital in Manhattan where he is in stable condition. Hours later, platform of the train station in Farmingdale was lined with people awaiting their arrival to the U.S. Open, as if nothing had happened.
[...] Cinque was placed on the floor where CPR was performed. When there was no response, one shock was given using an Automated External Defibrillator. Rescuers … [...]