City guards in Warsaw fought for nearly an hour to save a man suffering from severe hypothermia after finding him unconscious on January 14.
Discovery of Unconscious Man
On Wednesday, January 14, at approximately 20:55, city guards from the VII Territorial Division arrived at the scene of a dramatic call in the Wawer district. A reporting person had noticed a man lying on the street who was not moving. The guards found a approximately 40-year-old man hanging limply from a plastic sandbox, with his head hanging down. He showed no signs of life. His body was cold, with no breathing or pulse.
Emergency Response by City Guards
“We knew that in a hypothermia situation, vital functions are difficult to detect,” said Junior Inspector Jacek Szostakiewicz, one of the city guards involved in the intervention. “We quickly took a defibrillator from the patrol car and immediately began resuscitation.” Before being relieved by paramedics, the city guards performed CPR for over 20 minutes, taking turns according to the device’s instructions. “Those were minutes that seemed like an eternity,” reported the second officer who took turns with the victim.
Paramedics Take Over
Soon an ambulance arrived at the scene. 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 approximately 40-year-old man was taken to the hospital. The circumstances of this dramatic incident will be investigated by police.
Equipment and Training
There are 140 officers in the Warsaw City Guard with rescue qualifications. For just over a month, city guards have been using 100 portable AED defibrillators purchased as part of the implementation of the citizens’ budget. All officers are prepared to use them as part of regular first aid training.
