Buffalo Grove honors first responders, citizens for saving a life
Buffalo Grove Fire Chief Mike Baker recently recognized a valiant combination of pickleball players and first responders.
At the recent village board meeting, Baker honored them for saving a man who had collapsed at the pickle ball courts at Mike Rylko Park.
Those honored included Bob Bregenzer of Inverness, Kathy Mazur of Deerfield, Vince Donohue of Wheeling and Holly Goldsmith of Buffalo Grove.
As Mazur explained it, on July 31, the man was standing outside the courts waiting to play when he dropped to his knees and fell over. She said Bregenzer began administering CPR before she took over.
"While I was administering CPR, he was making a snoring sound, but then he'd stop and then all of a sudden he would come back," she said. "So we knew he was breathing, but, at one point, Holly thought he wasn't, and she did administer at least one, if not two, breaths to him."
She said Donohue also administered CPR.
Mazur, a retired teacher, said as part of her CPR training, she was taught that chest compressions should be done to the same rhythm as "Stayin' Alive."
"I was doing that song in my head to that rhythm," she said.
After police and fire personnel arrived, CPR was continued and an AED was deployed.
"I was told they had to revive him three times," she said.
He was taken to an area hospital, where he received treatment and was eventually released.
Deerfield resident Jolan Silcroft, who made the 911 call, said, "It was sort of frantic at the time because we were looking for his bag. We didn't know which bag was his bag. Finally, somebody figured out which bag was his bag," she said.
She said the incident was a wake-up call.
"Because of the incident, a lot of people (said), 'God, I would never have known what to do. I really need to take CPR.'"
In addition, "We realized that we all have bags that are similar. People order the same kind of pickle ball bags. So somebody started selling these identification tags that we now hang on our bags."