When Staples High School senior Andrew Ingber suffered a sudden cardiac arrest on the field during halftime of a soccer game at Loeffler Field last fall, the Staples community sprung to action in more ways than one.
Not only was Ingber’s life saved as a result of efforts from the Staples athletic training staff and several bystanders, the incident inadvertently sparked a campaign that will aim to prevent similar incidents from realizing the worst possible outcome.
Staples athletic trainers, Gaetana Deiso, Corey Iamonico, and Tiffany Kinahan — an intern with the school at the time — were presented with the Connecticut Athletic Trainers‘ Association President’s Award during a conference at Quinnipiac University on Thursday. The award was created in 2009 to honor excellence in athletic training.
“As a former recipient of the award, I know the special meaning behind it and I know what the athletic trainers at Staples went through not only during the event but also the days and weeks after,” said Jeffrey Shanley, president elect of the CATA. “The honor has been given out just twice before, signifying its importance and putting into context how outstanding the Staples staff was under the circumstances.”
The selective nature of the award signifies its importance and puts into context how outstanding the Staples staff was under the circumstances. Each prior time the award was for a life-saving event — once for actions at a college soccer match and a second at a high school basketball game.
Deiso, Iamonico and Kinahan each had a different role to play in the event.
October 23, 2015 was a normal, hectic day in the small athletic training office of the Staples High School. Preparing for a home football game that night in addition to the countless games and practices over the dozen fields between Staples and Bedford Middle School, the pair are used to being pulled in so many directions.
In the space of minutes, that workload increased exponentially. A head injury at the middle school required Iamonico’s attention, and a broken nose at Ginny Parker meant Deiso had to leave the soccer field with halftime approaching.
Kinahan was first to respond, racing onto the field as Ingber — an athlete during his four years at the school — fell to the floor and while kicking the ball around with friends during the halftime break.
“(Ingber) went down and one of his friends waved me over,” said Kinahan, who will graduate from Southern Connecticut State University Friday. “(His friend) told me he fell on his arm. I called (Deiso) and she said do you think we need to call an ambulance. The next thing he just went limp and I told her that he went unconscious.”
In the space of moments, Kinahan and Deiso — who raced across the adjacent field — began performing CPR. An automated external defibrillator — which was brought to the scene from the trunk of the car of Mark and MaryGrace Gudis — was used to revive Ingber, who had no pre-existing conditions.
Iamonico arrived shortly after with the AED, several adults provided assistance, including a registered nurse, and the EMSarrived to transport Ingber to Norwalk Hospital. Ingber made a full recovery and remains as active as before, according to his father.
Neither Deiso nor Iamonico had ever performed CPR in an emergency situation, but drew upon years of experience. Both are instructors for the American Red Cross and are responsible for training each coach at the school to perform CPR. That just scratches the surface of the extensive training they’ve received in their experienced careers.
Deiso arrived at Staples more than a decade ago and Iamonico has been with the school for close to six. The two have maintained a high standard working with hundreds of athletes year in and year out.
“I think they were consummate professionals,” said David Ingber, Andrew’s father. “They did their job, they did it well and unflinchingly. They saved a town from trauma; I give them accolades for the way they handled it.”
Although it was the most dramatic incident the pair had experienced in their time at Staples, each agreed they were just doing their jobs.
“We see so many injuries and many are of an emergent nature, that we’re used to it and we’re trained to respond,” Iamonico said. “I don’t think it was that different than being at work; but it was because it was a life or death situation. I feel like we were just doing our jobs.”
More accurately going above and beyond.
The town then came together in an effort to improve response methods. Sudden cardiac arrest affects almost 400,000 people each year and is often fatal. Understanding the importance of immediate response, a concentrated effort was made to provide AED’s at every possible facility.
“We’re really lucky to work in such a supportive community,” Deiso said. “As soon as it happened everyone was on board to make this so much better and make people aware that it could happen again.”
Coupling their efforts with the Adam Greenlee foundation — named for a Westport middle school student who also is a survivor of a sudden cardiac arrest — the community raised about $100,000, enough to provide close to 100 AED’s to facilities across town. Many of Ingber’s classmates became CPR instructors as a result, too.
“This is a civic triumph,” David Ingber said. “The town was galvanized; out of bad sometimes comes good.”