Fremont mayor helps save man's life

FREMONT — Fremont Mayor Danny Sanchez played an instrumental part in saving a man's life earlier this month. Sanchez was arriving at Mohawk High School in Sycamore, Ohio, to referee a junior varsity basketball game on Feb. 2, according to a WTOL story. When Sanchez arrived at the school, he noticed several people gathered around an unresponsive man lying in the snow. Sanchez dialed 911 and ran to help. "I just did what I thought I should do in the situation that was presented (to) me," Sanchez said. He began chest compressions and an athletic trainer came outside to assist him. A third person was then sent inside to retrieve an automatic external defibrillator — also known as an AED — a device used to automatically examine a patient's heart rhythm and deliver an electrical shock if necessary. After about a minute and a half, CPR combined with the AED revived the man before he was transported to a hospital. "I didn't think he was going to make it," Sanchez said. "It was a chaotic scene. He was lifeless when I got to him." Sanchez said that when civilians perform these actions, they are labeled as heroes. He downplayed being labeled a hero himself. He said incidents like these remind him that first responders do these sorts of things every day. Sanchez was a police officer for nearly a decade, and he said he misses that part of the job. He credited the successful outcome to a team effort. Besides the athletic trainer and the person who retrieved the AED, Sanchez said EMTs arrived in less than seven minutes, and also the hospital personnel who treated the man. "When you're in a situation like that it takes more than one person," Sanchez said. Sanchez noted that February is American Heart Month. He said that all Fremont city employees received CPR training recently and he is attempting to organize training for any city residents who want to learn.