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St. Paul’s Hospital receives $1-million gift to buy life-saving equipment (Dick Vollet, St. Paul’s Foundation)

St. Paul's Hospital has received a $1-million gift to buy special equipment that saved the life of a clinically dead man in February. From left to right: Dr. Jamil Bashir, patient Chris Dawkins, paramedics Thomas Watson and Benjamin Johnson, dispatcher Anne-Marie Forrest are pictured at St. Paul's Hospital.
St. Paul's Hospital has received a $1-million gift to buy special equipment that saved the life of a clinically dead man in February. From left to right: Dr. Jamil Bashir, patient Chris Dawkins, paramedics Thomas Watson and Benjamin Johnson, dispatcher Anne-Marie Forrest are pictured at St. Paul's Hospital.

The dramatic story of Chris Dawkin’s rescue was a front-page story in a Postmedia paper last month. Among those who read the article was an anonymous donor.

On February 5, Dawkins, a 55-year-old Vancouver physician, had just completed a workout on his rowing machine when he suffered cardiac arrest. His heart had stopped beating at 6:04 p.m. after a piece of plaque broke off a coronary artery and stopped the blood supply – Dawkins was considered clinically dead.

When he arrived at St. Paul’s, a team of 15 specializing in cardiac arrest not treatable by standard therapies had been notified and was waiting. Dr. Jamil Bashir, a cardiovascular surgeon, had already performed two surgeries and was preparing to head home when he was called into emergency.

Read the full story on the Vancouver Sun.

Story also found on the Peace River Record Gazette.

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