FDNY HOLDS 18TH ANNUAL SECOND CHANCE BRUNCH

Nine Patients to be Reunited with the Rescuers Who Saved Their Lives

Fire Commissioner Salvatore J. Cassano will preside at the 18th annual Second Chance Brunch at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, May 22 at the FDNY Fire Academy on Randalls Island. This special event will reunite nine people who have survived cardiac arrest with the Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), Paramedics, Firefighters and others who helped save their lives.

This year, six of the survivors received cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) from bystanders, co-workers or family members before FDNY members arrived. Research has shown that immediate CPR, coupled with defibrillation within the first few minutes after sudden cardiac arrest, can greatly increase a victim's chance of survival. Three of this year's survivors benefited from Hypothermia therapy. In 2010, FDNY Paramedics began hypothermia therapy - administering cold intravenous fluids to cardiac arrest patients before they arrive at the hospital - in an effort to halt muscle and tissue damage as well as preserve neurological function.

The nine survivors include a 41-year-old school teacher from Brooklyn who went into cardiac arrest while teaching English to her sixth grade class, a 67-year-old woman who was resuscitated while attending Easter Sunday mass in Brooklyn, and a 60-year-old bartender who went into cardiac arrest while at work in Manhattan.

Who:	Fire Commissioner Salvatore J. Cassano, Chief of Department Edward Kilduff, Chief of EMS Command Abdo Nahmod, Division Medical Director Dr. Bradley Kaufman, 9 survivors and their families and the emergency responders who saved them
Where:	FDNY Fire Academy, Building 9 Auditorium, Randall's Island, NY
When:	Tuesday, May 22 at 11 a.m.

***Photo Op***

Press Contact: Francis X. Gribbon & Frank Dwyer, (FDNY) (718) 999-2056

http://www.nyc.gov/fdny