**LEAD STORY**
Members of the NYC*EMS saved the life of a woman who was in cardiac arrest on Monday. What makes this story even more interesting is that the EMS crew was trapped inside of a stuck elevator for more than an hour with the victim. The EMS crew and the victim were stuck between the 13th and 14th floors of a Bronx Housing Authority building.
Emergency Medical Technician Joseph Conzo said, "We weren't going to lose this patient. After bringing her back from life, we weren't going to lose her because of an elevator."
Luckily, the EMS crew had plenty of help on hand. In the elevator with the victim were three EMT's and an emergency room doctor who just happened to be riding with them.
During the ordeal in the elevator, the medical team ran of oxygen, but were passed fresh tanks through the partially opened elevator doors by members of the FDNY. After about an hour, firefighters and members of the NYPD Emergency Services Unit (ESU) were able to finally extricate everyone through the elevator doors.
The situation began at about 0830 EST, when the EMS crew responded to the Melrose Houses in The Bronx. The initial 911 call indicated only that a woman was in need of medical assistance. When the ambulance arrived, they found a woman in her 50's unconscious, not breathing, and with no heartbeat or pulse. A second ambulance with two paramedics was sent to the scene and assisted the first ambulance crew in reviving the patient.
Conzo said, "We went through the usual procedure, gave her oxygen, CPR, tried to defibrillate her, and we finally got a pulse." After about thirty minutes, the EMS crew and the doctor placed the patient on a stretcher and then proceeded to get stuck on the elevator.
ENN sends their commendations and congratulations to everyone involved in this operation for their "stick-to-it-ness" and refusal to lose the patient to this situation.
(c) EmergencyNet News, 1996, All Rights Reserved.