Municipal guards in Warsaw fought for nearly an hour to save a severely hypothermic man on January 14, before he was transported to hospital by ambulance.
Emergency Response
On Wednesday, January 14, at approximately 20:55, municipal guards from the VII District arrived at the scene of a dramatic call in the Wawer district. A reporting person had noticed an unresponsive man lying in the street. The guards discovered a chilling scene: a man in his 40s was hanging lifelessly from a plastic sand box, head down, with no signs of life. His body was cold, without breath or pulse.
The guards were informed by the reporting person that emergency services were already aware. They requested immediate backup via radio while immediately beginning resuscitation.
Resuscitation Efforts
“We knew that in hypothermia, vital functions are difficult to detect,” said Junior Inspector Jacek Szostakiewicz, one of the municipal guards involved in the intervention. “We quickly took the defibrillator from the patrol car and immediately began resuscitation.”
Before taking over the actions, the municipal guards performed CPR for over 20 minutes, taking turns following the device’s instructions. “Those minutes felt like an eternity,” recounted the second officer who took turns with the rescued man. Soon an ambulance arrived at the scene.
Transport and Treatment
The officers helped transport the man to the ambulance, where he was connected to professional diagnostic equipment and resuscitation continued using a mechanical chest compression system. The victim was in a state of deep hypothermia – his body temperature was 26.5°C. After several dozen minutes, the man in his 40s was taken to the hospital. The circumstances of this dramatic incident will be investigated by police.
Emergency Equipment
There are 140 officers with rescue qualifications in the Warsaw Municipal Guard. For just over a month, municipal guards have been using 100 portable AED defibrillators purchased as part of the citizen budget. All officers are prepared to use them through regular first aid training.
