About two months ago, Belmont resident Jonathan Moffett noticed a friend choking and “leapt into action.”
“Everything we like to see happen happened in this incident,” Fire Chief David DeStefano said at a ceremony Monday recognizing the 61-year-old Belmont resident. “Jonathan leapt into action right away.”
According to Moffett, after receiving confirmation from the friend that he was choking, he began performing abdominal thrusts to dislodge the object in the man’s throat. By the time first responders arrived at the community center where it happened, the object was freed.
And that’s the goal, said Fire Captain David DeMarco— for bystanders to recognize what’s happening in a medical emergency and act accordingly.
“We’re looking for people to recognize what’s going on and start the immediate care before we even arrive,” he said. “Those are where you get your most successful outcomes.”
A growing number of Belmont residents are becoming trained in such lifesaving skills, including CPR, wound care and Narcan administration, thanks to a free class offered by the Fire Department. The most recent class, according to DeStefano, was nearly at capacity.
Those who complete the class receive American Heart Association CPR certification.
“We’re offering it because we want everybody in the community to have these skills,” said DeStefano. “As many people that have these skills as possible help us to do our job, and it helps increase the rate of survival for people that suffer from these types of injuries or illnesses.”
DeMarco said the classes, which take place at the Fire Department Headquarters on Trapelo Road, offer four hours of training, enabling participants to be a resource for others in an emergency.
“We’re the lead agency for EMS care in Belmont,” said DeMarco. “We’re the ones people look upon to respond. We can be at your house within five to eight minutes … depending on traffic, weather conditions, where the units are …. but seconds count in the chain of survival.”
Similar classes were held last year, DeStefano said, but this year’s classes include Narcan training, a direct result of the opioid settlement fund.
“They’re learning not just one life-saving skill for the price of one,” DeStefano said. “It works out really, really well.”
In 2021, Massachusetts joined a series of nationwide financial settlements with several pharmaceutical companies and pharmacies that the states claimed were liable for the epidemic of opioid abuse. According to the state website, these settlements will bring a combined $900 million into Massachusetts for substance use prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery support.
Disbursements will range in amount through 2038, according to Health Director Wes Chin. Last year, the town received $147,000. To date this year, Belmont has received $54,000.
In addition to the Narcan training, the Fire Department, in collaboration with the Health Department, has left bags with Narcan and a list of recovery resources with individuals they have helped after an opioid overdose.
DeStefano hopes to provide “Stop the Bleed” kits in public places, such as town buildings and public parks, in the same way many public locations already have a defibrillator. The kits include tourniquets, trauma dressing and wound packing, and gloves.
Although there are no more spots available in the December classes, DeStefano hopes to schedule more in the new year.
“Having a bystander start CPR immediately … greatly increases the chance of someone being a viable patient for us when we get there and having a good patient outcome and being released from the hospital perfectly well,” DeStefano said. “The more people out there that are able to start CPR while they’re waiting for advanced life support, which is us, to arrive, is going to account for a better outcome.”
