Putnam Valley Commuter Saves Life at Grand Central

Putnam Valley resident Francis Rush helped save the life of a Kentucky man who went into cardiac arrest in Grand Central.

MTA officials said the incident occurred about 4:20 p.m. Jan. 23, when Moises Dreszer, 70, of Louisville collapsed in the 47th Street passageway.

Rush, 27, a Metro North commuter, volunteer firefighter and trained EMT, immediately started administering CPR compressions. Assistant Station Manager and Fire Brigade member Cory Harris called Fire Command and began keeping Dreszer’s airway open.

Dreszer’s wife described the scene and thanked everyone involved, in this video from the MTA on YouTube.

I yelled for people to call 911 and laid him down on the floor and this wonderful man whom I call an angel started helping us and doing CPR,” she said. “We want to thank Mr. Francis Rush, a citizen of New York who just happened to be right behind us and stopped and in his few minutes he changed the life of a whole family.”

MTA officials released this statement:

When a visitor from Kentucky suffered from cardiac arrest in Grand Central and lost his pulse on Friday, January 23, 2015, some quick-thinking members of the MTA Police Department, the Metro-North Fire Brigade and a commuter trained in CPR rushed into action and saved his life.
At about 4:20 p.m., Assistant Station Manager and Fire Brigade member Cory Harris witnessed a man, Moises Dreszer, 70, of Louisville, collapse in Grand Central’s 47th Street cross passageway, checked his vital signs and called Fire Command. Mr. Dreszer was with his wife, Cathy, getting water at a Trackside Commissary cart when he went into cardiac arrest. A Metro-North commuter, Francis Rush, 27, from Putnam Valley (who is a volunteer firefighter and trained EMT) immediately started administering CPR compressions as Mr. Harris kept his airway open.
As the CPR efforts were underway, MTA Police Officer Michael Burns took swift action and retrieved a defibrillator. Mr. Dreszer did not have a pulse and was not responsive.
MTA PD Inspector Sean Montgomery, Sargeant Tajinder Singh, Officer Michael Stango and Officer Frank Meyreles, along with Fire EMS Officer Anthony Gaudio, Fire Brigade members Dung Hoai Dinh, and Frank Martusciello also responded as Officer Burns set up the defibrillator with the assistance of Rush and Harris, who attached the two pads to the designated area of Dreszer’s chest.
The defibrillator automatically analyzed Mr. Dreszer’s condition and instructed the users to “shock.” After the shock, the defibrillator again analyzed and instructed to perform CPR compressions for two minutes. Rush performed the compressions as Officer Burns monitored the AED.
After the two minutes ended, the defibrillator advised to shock a second time. FDNY and NY Presbyterian EMS units, who had arrived on scene, took control of the CPR. Mr.Dreszer’s pulse was restored after the second shock. His life was saved.

“Just to watch the teamwork of all emergency personnel was remarkable,” said Inspector Montgomery. “I’ve never seen a network of professionalism like what transpired in that concourse that day.”

Officers Burns, Singh and Meyreles visited Mr. Dreszer the next day at NYU Langone Medical Center. Mr. Dreszer was released this past Thursday and is back home with his wife in Louisville.

“I don’t remember all of the episode because I was out, but now I can think fine,” said Mr. Dreszer. “Physically, I feel good – a little weak, but otherwise I’m going to manage to get better.”

“We’re still a family,” added Mrs. Dreszer. “We’re all still here and we just want to thank all these people.”