A Renton man is alive today in part because of the training and quick action of average citizens who worked quickly to provide CPR before medics could arrive.

According to Renton Battalion Chief and Safety Officer John P. Lecoq, firefighters received a call on the night of Feb. 9 about a man on the ground near Kennydale Elementary School.

The man had been walking his dog when he suddenly had a heart attack. Fortunately, two concerned motorists, including an off-duty Seattle firefighter, stopped to see if they could help.

As 911 was called, the firefighter began CPR.

Renton firefighters arrived within six minutes and took over for the citizen. An aid crew administered a single shock with a defibriliator, which  brought the man’s heart back to a stable rhythm.

Medics arrived soon after to stabilize the patient, who was then transported to Valley Medical Center, where he was treated in the emergency room and coronary care facility before being released.

Lecoq said that things could have been very different without the intervention of the citizens who saw the man on the ground.

“Without a caring community, a life would have been lost,” he said in an email. “That’s the first tier of the system.”

The incident also highlights the importance of Renton’s “Heart Month” program, which ran through the month February. This year marked the 10th anniversary of the program, designed to help reduce the incidents of coronary vascular disease in the community. Since the program began, Renton Firefighters have screened more than 50,000 people for blood pressure and blood sugar, with 7,000 receiving high blood pressure alerts and another 2,220 with high sugar.

Renton Firefighters this month not only provided the checks at multiple locations around the city, they also visited all 22 Renton schools.

Cardiac events are the top cause of death in the United States and strokes are the top cause of disability.

But Renton, thanks to efforts like Heart Month and the vigilance of average citizens, has the highest save rate in the world when it comes to cardiac events.