Warsaw municipal guards fought for nearly an hour to save a severely hypothermic man before paramedics arrived and transported him to hospital.
Dramatic Emergency Response
On Wednesday, January 14, at approximately 20:55, municipal guards from the VII Territorial Unit responded to a dramatic call in Warsaw’s Wawer district. A reporting person had found a 40-year-old man lying motionless in the street, hanging limply from a plastic sand box with his head hanging down. The man showed no signs of life, with a cold body and no breathing or pulse.
Immediate Resuscitation Attempt
“We knew that in a hypothermia situation, vital functions are difficult to detect,” said Junior Inspector Jacek Szostakiewicz, one of the municipal guards who responded. The guards immediately requested paramedics expedite their response while they began resuscitation, quickly retrieving a defibrillator from their radio vehicle. They performed chest compressions for over 20 minutes, taking turns and following the device’s instructions.
Professional Medical Intervention
“These were minutes, but they seemed like an eternity,” recounted one officer. When paramedics arrived, the guards helped transport the man to the ambulance, where he was connected to professional diagnostic equipment. Resuscitation continued using a mechanical chest compression system. The victim was in a state of deep hypothermia with a body temperature of 26.5°C. After several dozen minutes, the 40-year-old man was transported to the hospital.
Emergency Preparedness
Warsaw’s municipal guard has 140 officers with rescue credentials. For just over a month, municipal guards have been using 100 portable AED defibrillators purchased as part of the citizens’ budget initiative. All officers are trained to use these devices through regular first aid training courses.