EVERETT—On Monday, January 5, South County Fire honored an off-duty firefighter and several other community members who leapt into action to save the life of a pickleball player at an Edmonds gym.
The following community members were presented a Community Lifesaver Coin for their actions:
- Tobey Stevenson
- Dr. Neil Siecke (not pictured)
- Patty Hencz
- David Varnau
- Hannah Murphy
- Greg Boland
On September 5, 2025, fellow pickleball players at Edmonds Harbor Square Athletic Club noticed a man slumped over with his face turning blue. The man had no pulse and was not breathing, according to Tobey Stevenson, an off-duty Bellingham Fire captain who was exercising at the time.
Stevenson and another gym member, who is a cardiologist, performed CPR on the man. Other bystanders called 911 and retrieved an automated external defibrillator (AED) at the gym, which Stevenson and the cardiologist used to shock the man’s heart back into rhythm.
“I saw his eyes flicker and he started breathing. It was an amazing feeling,” Stevenson said.
When South County firefighters arrived, the man was awake and responsive. Firefighters rushed him to a hospital, and he was released days later.
In a cardiac arrest, bystander CPR during the critical minutes before firefighters arrive can double or triple a patient’s chance of survival. South County Fire offers a free ACT course to learn life-saving skills including CPR, how to use an AED, apply a tourniquet and more. ACT is a new approach to first aid that removes barriers and makes learning simple. About 35,000 people have already been trained to ACT.
Take the one-hour ACT course online or request an in-person class for your group at southsnofire.org/ACT.
Author: Lynnwood Times Staff
