Naples first responders honored for saving runner

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NAPLES, Fla. – For the first time, WINK News is hearing from a North Naples man who collapsed just short of the finish line while running a half marathon in January.

“I was never worried, and knew that I was in good hands as they quickly provided medical care with skilled confidence,” said Greg Wolpert.

On Wednesday, eight first responders received the Phoenix Award for saving his life. Only WINK News was there as Wolpert thanked them one by one.

“If you hadn’t made it a priority to have the trained professionals, and proper life saving equipment available, I wouldn’t have had such a positive outcome, so thank you.”

Wolpert told city council members that he experienced what doctors call a sudden cardiac arrest. It happened just before 9 a.m. on January 18, while he was running in a half marathon in downtown Naples.

“Bystanders, other runners, and volunteers at the race immediately came to my rescue and started CPR,” said Wolpert.

Within minutes, firefighters and paramedics for the City of Naples took over. They were able to revive Wolpert using a state of the art heart monitor.

“When the patient got to the hospital, he was conscious, alert and talking which is a remarkable feat,” said Naples Fire Chief Stephen McInerny.

Doctors say Wolpert had a blood clot that was blocking an artery. Rescuers say he was saved from what could have been a devastating outcome.

“Nationwide about 8 percent of the people are discharged from the hospital, where locally we have a 38 percent revival rate,” said Collier County EMS Chief Walter Kopka.

Wolpert tells WINK News he’s been running for 25 years. He said doctors gave him the green light to start slowly running again a couple weeks ago.

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