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Lazare suffered a massive heart attack in March, but was saved with a defibrillator. (JOHN MAHONEY/The Gazette)
Heart attack survivor takes action
Dentist wants defibrillators in all public places
Karen Seidman
The Gazette
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Lazare suffered a massive heart attack in March, but was saved with a defibrillator. (JOHN MAHONEY/The Gazette)
After a defibrillator got his heart beating again at the Pointe Claire pool in March, dentist Mark Lazare is now working to ensure that more public places have one on hand for an emergency.
For $1,600, it could mean the difference between life and death.
Recalling the events of the day of his massive heart attack on March 11, Lazare, an Île Perrôt resident, understands that the timing and location of his heart attack were extremely fortunate. If he’d suffered it 10 minutes later, he could have been in his car, which could have resulted in his death and/or the death of others. Being at the pool, where Lazare exercised religiously, was fortunate because it is equipped with a defibrillator.
“That defibrillator kick-started my heart,” said Lazare, 68. “When the lifeguards originally did CPR, they couldn’t find a pulse. I wasn’t breathing. It gave me a good shock and then they felt a pulse.”
Lazare recently gave a formal thank-you to the staff at the Pointe Claire pool by presenting the lifeguards with plaques and gift certificates for Fairview Shopping Centre, and buying training equipment for the pool staff.
“I just wanted to thank everyone who saved my life,” Lazare said.
The gesture was appreciated, said Gary Malcolm, director of sports and leisure for Pointe Claire.
“It’s not very often someone gets to save someone’s life,” he said.
In the 30 years he’s been in the business, he has witnessed only a couple of massive heart attacks.
On the day of Lazare’s heart attack, Malcolm was there along with acquatics manager Bill Gate and lifeguards Kevin Pinsky, James Tobin and Damian Bowness.
“They had a defibrillator, and it indicated he was in cardiac arrest and needed a shock,” Malcolm explained.
He said the pool has had a defibrillator for about three years now. In fact, all public buildings and public security vehicles in Pointe Claire are now equipped with them, he said.
That is exactly what Lazare is striving for – in all municipalities and boroughs.
To that end, he has contacted the Quebec Order of Dentists and asked that it be mandatory to have defibrillators in all dentists’ offices.
“They really should be in all public places,” Lazare said. “But it should be law that they’re in all dentists’ offices because it’s a stressed environment.”
They are, in fact, very user-friendly, he said, with little training necessary. The machine indicates if a shock is needed and guides the user.
Lazare not only had no warning signs that he had heart disease, but all his blood work had shown him to be in perfect shape.
“My cardiologist said I had the best blood results of anyone over 65,” Lazare said. “When I saw him after my heart attack, he said he was more shocked than me.”
In the end, his heart-friendly lifestyle, which included vigorous exercise and a strict diet, couldn’t help him avoid the surgery for six bypasses he ultimately required.
Lazare believes that stress was a contributing factor that affected him.
In any case, he is extremely grateful that his coronary event occurred at the Pointe Claire pool, where the staff had the equipment and know-how to save his life.