Ottawa has its act together!

Three saves in one week...

Updated: Sat Nov. 26 2011 4:53:11 PM

ctvottawa.ca An Ottawa firefighter said he's looking forward to having a beer with the opposing player whose life he helped save during a game of hockey Friday night.

Ottawa paramedics said a 61-year-old man was playing hockey at the Kanata Recreation Complex when he collapsed around 10:30 p.m. Friday.

Off-duty firefighter Pat Aubry skated over, felt he had no pulse and immediately asked for someone to call 911 and get the public access defibrillator, according to Ottawa Fire Services.

"I was assessing him and as I was assessing him his eyes rolled back and he went purple, so I started CPR," said firefighter Pat Aubry.

CPR and one shock from the defibrillator were delivered, and paramedics said the man's pulse was back when they arrived.

"We set it up on him and the machine did what it was supposed to do," Aubry said.

He was taken to hospital conscious and is in stable condition.

The incident is the third this past week where someone was saved with a defibrillator.

Tuesday a 66-year-old man suffered a heart attack while curling at the RCMP Curling Rink; his pulse was also brought back using CPR and a defibrillator.

Thursday, the same "chain of survival" was put into action to save a 79-year-old who suffered cardiac arrest while playing tennis at the West Ottawa Tennis Club.

A 41-year-old was revived with a defibrillator after he collapsed playing hockey Saturday, Nov. 19 at the Minto Arena.

Aubry, who looked after the patient's children while their mother was at the hospital, said he's done CPR plenty of times on the job.

Still, he insists the accolades aren't his alone.

"(People say) 'Thanks a lot Pat, you're the guy that saved him,'" he said. "I said no, it was a team effort, everybody helped."

There are more than 700 defibrillators in Ottawa, in both public and private facilities.

Using one during cardiac arrest increases the chance of survival by 65 per cent.

With a report from CTV Ottawa's Karen Soloman

[Blogger's note about the '65%' reference: It almost always takes at least CPR & AED to bring a sudden cardiac arrest victim back. In the U.S.A. between five and ten percent are brought back, with the difference depending whether you insist that the survivor not be counted unless the survivor is able to perform the activities of daily living. Over a ten year period, the Phoenix Airport has averaged a 75% survival rate. This success is due to plenty of people who know Bystander CPR, plenty of AED's, a really good Emergency Medical Service, and really good cardiac center hospitals.]