Cardiac Science readers know Rachel Moyer, mother of Greg Moyer, who died from sudden cardiac arrest almost 10 years ago now.

Since then, Rachel has been on a crusade. A crusade to get defibrillators into schools so the tragedy that befell her and her family needn’t happen again. The founder and president of the Gregory W. Moyer Defibrillator Fund, Rachel deployed a defibrillator at East Stroudsburg University. This automated external defibrillator (AED) – and the heroes who used it last Tuesday on a 22-year-old student playing basketball at a campus sports facility – helped save his life.

“I can’t even tell you how happy I was to hear the news,” Moyer said.

As reported in the Pocono Record, Wendy Dietrich, the athletic trainer who administered the life-saving electric shock to the man inside the Koehler Fieldhouse, said, “I’m just overcome with joy that I was able to help this young man.” Dietrich “knew exactly what was happening” because she once had to administer CPR to a man struck by lightning.

Colleen Shotwell, head of ESU’s athletic training department, helped Dietrich administered CPR until medics arrived and took the man to the hospital. According to the Record, he remains in stable condition.

Another person during a graduation ceremony in the Koehler Field House was saved using the exact same AED that saved the man Tuesday, according to ESU spokesman Doug Smith. ESU has 29 defibrillators in 17 of its buildings, Smith said.

The CPR helped keep him alive, but Dietrich credits the machine with having done the most important work. “The AED is what saved his life,” Dietrich said.

Photo credit: Adam Richins/Pocono Record

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