Feb. 16--When a police officer collapsed in a West Side police station over the weekend, two fellow cops came to his aid with a defibrillator that had been installed there just a month before.
The two officers, each less than two years on the job, performed CPR and used an automated external defibrillator on their unconscious colleague at the 11th District station on the West Side on Saturday evening, according to a department release.
The officer regained consciousness and was taken to a hospital, where his condition was stabilized, the department said.
"AEDs are critical in increasing the chances of survival for those who suffer a cardiac incident," said Frank Giancamilli, a spokesman for the department. "CPD is grateful to the officers that used this device to save the life of a fellow officer just weeks after it was installed in the 11th District."
The defibrillator was installed after the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation donated $50,000 to install them in district stations, Giancamilli said.
A law requiring their installation became effective in January, about the time the city installed the defibrillator in the 11th District station, Giancamilli said. The law was passed after a Chicago police detective died following a heart attack in the 14th District police station near Shakespeare and California avenues in the Logan Square neighborhood in February 2014.
Every one of the city's 22 district stations, three detective areas, headquarters and the Homan Square facility now have a defibrillator, Giancamilli said.
