Last weekend, off-duty paramedics Winona and Justin Schindler were celebrating their anniversary at a Syracuse, New York, steakhouse when they noticed a disturbance across the restaurant. Realizing a woman was choking, the couple rushed to help her. After unsuccessfully attempting the Heimlich maneuver, the woman became unresponsive and stopped breathing, so the Schindlers began CPR.
Winona applied an automated external defibrillator (AED) while Justin performed chest compressions. Meanwhile, a restaurant employee went and got a LifeVac device from their car, which helped clear the woman’s airway. After four or five minutes of CPR, the woman took her first breath and regained consciousness just as emergency responders arrived.
Winona notes that the rescue was a team effort involving restaurant staff and bystanders, all working together. The Schindlers are taking the opportunity to encourage the public to get CPR training, saying that you never know when it might save a life.
- The restaurant owner, Charlie Roman, says the woman’s family later shared that she was doing well in the hospital.
Source: KSLA
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