Lebanon
The men, who had sons playing on the Lebanon Longhorns B team, ran to the aid of a Derry, N.H., boy after he fell over backward near the three-point line.
Peter Begin and Jon Wahrenberger, along with other bystanders, started chest compressions and positioned electronic shock pads from a nearby automated external defibrillator on the boy’s chest.
In a matter of seconds, the AED machine advised the good Samaritans to administer a shock to the boy, who had no pulse, and in a matter of seconds, his pulse returned.
“He started making moaning noises and within the next 10 to 15 seconds, he was talking,” said Begin, a part-time Lebanon and Hanover police officer who works full-time in security at Mascoma Savings Bank.
Begin and Wahrenberger, a cardiovascular doctor at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, have been praised for their efforts by the owner of the complex where the tournament was held.
“I wanted to take the time to send you our appreciation and thanks for all that you did to save that little boy’s life,” Peter Maher, co-owner of the RIM Sports Complex, wrote in an email to Begin, Wahrenberger and the other bystanders. “Without your quick thinking and action, there may have been a different result.”
The boy, who was not identified, is “doing better and in good spirits,” Maher wrote.
The boy was transported by ambulance to Exeter Hospital and later transferred to Boston Children’s Hospital.
“It was a pretty traumatic experience for the parents, coaches and players,” Maher said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “We were fortunate to have a police officer and cardiovascular doctor there.”
In an emailed reply to Maher, Wahrenberger said Saturday’s fortunate outcome wouldn’t have been possible without a “perfect confluence” of factors — “including the willingness of a group of spectators to get involved, the basic life support training of those volunteers put to the task in a coordinated way, the presence of an AED at RIM, immediate 911 access, and the quick response of emergency medical services.”
In a Wednesday telephone interview, Wahrenberger said CPR only bought the boy time until the AED machine could be used.
All three men stressed the importance of having the devices available in public places. They should be as ubiquitous as “fire extinguishers,” Wahrenberger said.
If it weren’t for the AED, both Begin and Wahrenberger said they feared Saturday’s outcome could have been different.
“I can’t even say how important they are,” Begin said.
“I hope the lesson for everybody is that armed laypeople with the right knowledge can alter the course of a life-threatening event like that,” Wahrenberger said.
Maher said he purchased the AED for the complex when it opened three years ago. A year and a half ago, officials were forced to use the AED on someone else.
“We should probably put a couple of stars on it,” Maher said. “It has saved a couple of people’s lives.”
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com.