A 56-year-old man is recovering in hospital after two family members helped save his life when he went into cardiac arrest Sunday afternoon.
Eric Lemieux was working on a tractor with his son-in-law when he had a heart attack. In a matter of seconds, his step-daughter and son-in-law started performing CPR.
"I noticed his lips were turning blue, and his face was kind of turning blue. So I started doing chest compressions right away. And then I noticed the second I started doing that, I noticed the colour started coming back into his lips," Stephanie Dionne told CTV Ottawa on Monday.
Dionne learned CPR because of a mandatory program through work. She never thought she'd actually have to use it.
"Without the training, we wouldn't have known what to do. All we would've done is call 911. And even though they were very quick to respond, I don't know if it would've been soon enough," Dionne said.
Ottawa paramedics say the CPR training may have made the difference between life and death.
"What we're seeing now is studies are demonstrating quite clearly the proper compression techniques are crucial for survival," said paramedic spokesperson J.P. Trottier.
There are more than 1,000 CPR instructors in our area who train about 25,000 people each year.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's John Hua
