On 02-23-04 at approximately 3:25 PM, units from Hughesville Fire and EMS were alerted to the Charlotte Hall McKay’s Food and grocery store in St. Mary’s County for a person who had stopped breathing. Engine 23 and Ambulance 27 responded with 8 personnel, as well as Mechanicsville’s Squad 2, Ambulance 297 and St. Mary’s County’s Medic 3.

Engine 23 and Ambulance 27 arrived to find bystanders performing CPR on the victim in the parking lot. Hughesville volunteers took over CPR and used the AED (Automatic External Defibrillator) off of Ambulance 27 in an attempt to restart the victim’s heart. The victim was loaded into the ambulance and was transported to Civista Medical Center while CPR was in progress. While enroute to the hospital, Ambulance 27 met with Paramedic Ambulance 517 who assisted with patient care for the remainder of the trip to the hospital. Before arriving at Civista, the victim’s heart began beating again. Six hours after the initial call, the victim’s heart was still beating and the patient was in the critical care unit. Congratulations for saving a life!