Captain Kevin Richard of the Rochester Fire Department could not believe his eyes.

Having received the call at approximately 8:30 am on May 10 that a golfer at Rochester Golf Club was unconscious and not breathing with CPR reportedly in progress, he arrived at the course parking lot off Route 105 to the sight of Hugh McGonagle’s arms flopping into the air and back down, out of sight.

“That’s the best CPR I’ve ever seen,” Richard recalled saying.

The life-saving intervention was being performed by fellow Sunday-morning golfer John Magilton, who intercepted McGonagle’s playing partners in transport back toward the clubhouse from way out on the 3^rd hole where McGonagle had collapsed while sitting in his cart. Magilton, a medical professional who recognized the trouble from the 1^st hole, told them upon reaching the parking lot that McGonagle needs to be on the ground, where he furiously worked for two minutes until EMT’s were on site.

“I was spent,” Magilton confessed.

Critical recognition, critical seconds, critical training and critical decisions among several parties that morning saved McGonagle’s life. In celebrating this success story on Friday at the Rochester Senior Center, Richard identified Magilton’s intervention as an essential component in the “chain of survival.”

The arrival of Rochester Rescue 210 and Engine 193 coincided with that of the Rochester Police Department. Suddenly, a team of EMT’s, paramedics, and police officers were engaged in McGonagle’s treatment and evaluation. CPR continued in the parking lot, upgraded with use of the Lifepak 15 Cardiac Monitor and the Lucas automated CPR device. Several shocks were administered.

An ambulance took McGonagle to Tobey Hospital. On the way, he regained consciousness and communicated but, being critically ill, was taken from Tobey to Boston via Boston Medflight Helicopter.

Paramedic Steve Cody, McGonagle’s son-in-law and a nurse practitioner, paused to reflect on the storm in his mind as he was faced with such a personal situation.

“I flipflopped back and forth between paramedic and son,” he said, recalling the realization that his wife Danielle, McGonagle’s daughter, was listening on the other end of his cell phone. “Literally, it was a switch back and forth between medic and son. I talked to him, he’d look up at me, ‘Stevie, Stevie,’ he’d recognize, then I’d have to do something else. It just depended on where my brain was at the time.”

Cody, 50, has been on life-saving missions for 29 years. He served in the trauma unit now known as BMC South (Brockton), worked in the emergency room and, as a psychiatric nurse practitioner, plans to point his career toward mental health.

“I’m just hoping we can get ‘CPR saves lives’ message to people because, honestly, it takes five minutes to get there, and if you’re not doing anything, that’s five minutes wasted,” said Cody.

Response times to the rapidly growing, eastern end of Rochester around Routes 28 and 58 are substantially longer. Due to prohibitive, post-Covid construction costs, pursuit of an auxiliary fire station in that area has been tabled with the town fiscally challenged to build a long-overdue replacement of the main station adjacent to Rochester Elementary School.

Inflation only amplifies Cody’s concern that residents learn CPR and buy their loved ones – or any victim – critical minutes while professional help in on the way.

As Richard described the effort before officially recognizing the many who pulled together to save McGonagle, the chain of survival on May 10 was instant, cohesive, cooperative, and unbroken. As miraculous as it sounds, those involved saw individual public recognition as an opportunity to reinforce the message that this can be a normal response.

“We talked about the chain of survival because it’s literally a chain,” said Cody. “You have to recognize immediately, you have to call 911 immediately, you have to start CPR immediately, you have to continue CPR, it has to be effective, we have to get there, we have to (defibrillate) immediately, as soon as possible. You take any one of those chains out, and he had three to five minutes without a pulse.”

The loss of any one of those links in the chain, said Cody, would have produced a different outcome.

Richard compared McGonagle’s event to the one Fire Chief Scott Weigel suffered at home. The chief was in attendance Friday to present awards to participants in McGonagle’s rescue.

Fully familiar with first-responder lifestyle – Danielle is also an EMT and soon-to-become nurse practitioner – the survivor was fully cognizant of all that went into his rescue and shared big hugs with his family and friends.

“I can start a little light golf – chipping and putting – after six weeks. This Sunday makes five weeks,” said McGonagle, who goes 6-foot-1 and is down from 245 pounds when he collapsed to 226 as of June 12.

“They’re healing,” he said of his ribs. “It feels much better now. At least, if I have to cough, I can cough … it was hard to breathe.”

When McGonagle woke up in the hospital to tremendous pain in his chest, he asked his doctor why. The answer was his ribs were broken. “How many?” he asked. “All of them.”

Magilton said, “You’re welcome.” Laughter ensued.

Danielle Cody thanked the Rochester Fire Department, the civilians who intervened and the community at large in a letter shared on social media.

“Statistically, the odds were against him, but the immediate action of those around him changed everything. … I wanted to share the full story because it is a beautiful, rare testament to the power of quick thinking, community, and the compassion of strangers and friends alike,” she stated in her letter. “My family and I are eternally grateful. We are overwhelmed by the skill and heart shown by first responders and everyone on that course. On a lighter note, if you’re looking for a place to play golf, head to Rochester – it’s clearly the safest course around!”

Receiving Civilian Lifesaver awards: John Magilton, Brent Burrel, Charles Schlaegel, and Warren Hovasse.

Fire/EMS/Police Lifesaver awards: Deputy Chief Jeffrey Eldridge, Captain Kevin Richard, Paramedic David Zander, Paramedic Steve Cody, Firefighter Benjamin Ferreira, Sergeant Catherine Connolly, and Detective Paul Douglas.

Certificates of Recognition: Supervisor Stephanie Lenihan, Dispatcher Kristen McDonald, Fire Dispatcher Ashley Joyce, Fire Dispatcher Andrea Tarrant, Police Dispatcher Jordan Shairs, and Police Dispatcher Patrick Moran.

By Mick Colageo

The Wanderer

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