A heartfelt hug between Paul Sivret and daughter Amy Badyal would not be happening if it weren’t for a lifesaving twist of fate.
“It was a nightmare. I thought I lost my dad and I am so happy that he’s back,” said Badyal.
Her father is alive today, thanks in part, to his co-worker Bill Wiseman.
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Last year, Wiseman suffered a heart attack while playing hockey at a local rink. He says five of his teammates and an automated external defibrillator located at the rink saved his life
“There was an AED machine right there and between that and those five guys and the AED machine that is what saved my life,” he said.
Wanting to be prepared in case Wiseman’s heart might stop again his employer, Bonte Foods, in Dieppe, N.B. installed an AED.
“Who would have thought 18 months later that they would actually deploy it?” says Mary-Lou Price with Ambulance New Brunswick.
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This past August, while Sivret was working in processing, he started to feel that something just wasn’t quite right.
“I had heartburn and I was asking for a Tums,” he said.
He would need a lot more than that.
Sivret suffered a heart attack in his boss’s office and knowing the AED machine inspired by Wiseman was close by, his co-workers called 911 and then used the device to restart his heart.
“I just thank God that everything fell into place,” Sivret said.
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According to Ambulance New Brunswick, just over 500 AEDs have been placed and registered by the organization across the province. Most are located in schools, hockey rinks, and community centres, but more and more businesses are also installing the devices.
According to Price, this year alone, five of the machines were used to save a life.