High school athletic trainers jump into action to save football ref who collapsed during game
High school official Phil LiNigro collapsed during the second quarter of a game last Saturday at Farmingdale High School. Farmingdale High School trainer Phil Fandale and East Meadow trainer Dan DeSimone saw it happen and ran over to help.
News 12 Staff
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Mar 24, 2021, 2:14 AM
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Updated 1,123 days ago
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4ds agoTwo high school athletic trainers made life-saving choices when they jumped into action to save a referee who collapsed during a football game.
High school official Phil LiNigro collapsed during the second quarter of a game last Saturday at Farmingdale High School. Farmingdale High School trainer Phil Fandale and East Meadow trainer Dan DeSimone saw it happen and ran over to help.
"When we got there, he was actually on his stomach and he was still actually breathing," says Fandale. "But as we turned him over to his back, he lost pulse, he started turning blue."
As Fandale unpacked a defibrillator, DeSimone performed CPR.
"I don't even think I made it through one cycle of compressions before the AED was on him, analyzing the heart rhythm and advising us shock," says DeSimone.
The shock got LiNigro's heart beating again. DeSimone says athletic trainers go through training every year in case of emergencies, and are certified in CPR and AED use.
Farmingdale always has an athletic trainer with an AED on them, a doctor and an ambulance at every varsity football game.
"It felt like forever, but it was probably like about a minute until he came to," says Fandale.
Fandale says this was the first time in 22 years that he has had to use a defibrillator on someone -- and hopes it will be his last.
LiNigro is now recovering in a hospital and expected to be OK.
