Nov 8, 2022Massachusetts Athletic Trainer Saves Life at Football Game
A Massachusetts athletic trainer sprang into action during a Saturday night football game to save the life of a man who suffered a heart attack.
A clock operator for the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) sanctioned football was leaving the field after the game concluded when he suffered the heart attack.
Kathryn Sevigny, 26, is only in the second year of her job as an athletic trainer for Norton (MA) High School but is also a certified EMT. She relied on her training to save the clock operator’s life.
A recent story from The Sun Chronicle detailed Sevigny’s fast-acting heroics. Below is an excerpt from The Sun Chronicle story.
“He was unresponsive and he had no pulse,” Sevigny said of the clock operator.
Sevigny performed a series of chest compressions and an automatic external defibrillator that was at the field was used.
“We got a pulse back and he was breathing,” Sevigny told The Sun Chronicle on Sunday.
Sevigny was assisted by others attending the game, including a person who is believed to be a Franklin firefighter and a nurse who is a parent of a local student.
“They immediately went to work,” Norton High School football coach Jim Artz said, adding of Sevigny, “I can’t tell you how many chest compressions she did but she worked tirelessly. He was purple.”
The clock operator was rushed to Good Samaritan Hospital in Brockton, MA.
“He is in recovery at the hospital in stable condition,” Artz said.
Sevigny said early Sunday afternoon, “He’s resting comfortably in the hospital and wants to watch the Patriots game.”
“As soon as he got in the ambulance, I cried,” Sevigny said. “I never experienced such an adrenaline rush. I was just thankful I was there and able to help him.
“It was the very first time,” Sevigny said of putting her EMT training to work to save someone’s life. “I learned it in school but never thought I’d have to do it in real life.”
To read the full story from The Sun Chronicle about the fast-acting Massachusetts athletic trainer, click here.