LEWISTON – Police officers were credited Friday morning with saving the life of a man who collapsed while walking near Kennedy Park.

Those involved said a group effort and life-saving equipment police carry in the cruisers helped revive 50-year-old Gordon Barrett.

Just after 7 a.m., police received a report that a man was unconscious on the ground near the park entrance on Park Street.

Police rushed from the station to the area where the man was prone on the sidewalk at the edge of the park. He had no pulse, police said.

Officer Randy Hausman, Sgt. Danny Lachance and Lt. Mark Cornelio tended to the victim until Lt. Tom Avery arrived with medical equipment.

For roughly four years, police have been equipped with automatic external defibrillators used to evaluate and shock a victim suffering from heart problems.

Police said the defibrillator showed that Barrett was suffering ventricular fibrillation, a form of cardiac arrest that stops the flow of blood to the brain and other organs.

According to medical literature, the chances of surviving such an attack without immediate defibrillation are slim.

With the evaluation from the defibrillator, police used the equipment to deliver shocks to Barrett’s chest, attempting to get his heart beating regularly until paramedics arrived.

When medics from United Ambulance arrived, LaChance drove the vehicle to the hospital while the paramedics worked on Barrett in the back. Avery rode to the hospital in the back of the ambulance.

Barrett was taken to Central Maine Medical Center where he was listed in stable condition Friday night.

“Obviously, time is everything in a situation like that,” said Deputy Chief Michael Bussiere. “The officers were there within minutes, and that was crucial.”

The defibrillators were given to police departments in Lewiston and Auburn in 2000. They were paid for with money from CMMC and St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center.

Jim Carignan, the dean of Bates College, helped get $15,000 from each hospital for the devices. The cities of Lewiston and Auburn paid for the training of their employees.

“I can think of at least two or three instances where we used the AEDs to bring someone back,” Bussiere said.

According those who train people to use defibrillators, there is a 10 percent less chance of successful defibrillation after each minute that passes once a person collapses from cardiac arrest.

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