EDMONDS, Wash. — A man playing pickleball at an Edmonds gym suffered a medical emergency, and an off-duty South County firefighter and a cardiologist jumped in to help.
Bellingham Fire Captain Tobey Stevenson was working out at the Edmonds Harbor Square Athletic Club on September 5 when a man slumped over and his face turned blue.
Stevenson and another gym-goer, who was a cardiologist, started CPR on the man after finding he had no pulse and was not breathing, according to South County Fire.
Bystanders grabbed a defibulator at the gym, which the two responders used to start the man’s heart again.
“I saw his eyes flicker and he started breathing. It was an amazing feeling,” Stevenson said.
Emergency responders arrived and brought the man to a hospital, and he was released a few days later.
In a ceremony on Monday, South County Fire honored Stevenson and the other responders credited with saving the man’s life.
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