St. Petersburg woman uses defibrillator to save man outside Sweetbay grocery store

ST. PETERSBURG — A 33-year-old woman helped save a 73-year-old man's life Tuesday night when she used a defibrillator to get his heart beating again.

Jennifer Trombly of St. Petersburg had just walked out of a Sweetbay Supermarket about 6 p.m. when she heard a commotion and saw a man lying on the ground outside the store.

When the man stopped breathing, bystanders began performing CPR.

Trombly, whose 9-year-old son has a condition that can cause him to go into a life-threatening arrhythmia, raced to her car and got her personal automated external defibrillator, or AED.

She followed the prompts on the machine, which can automatically diagnose and treat potentially life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias.

Shortly afterward, St. Petersburg firefighters and paramedics arrived at the store at 6095 Ninth Ave. N to find that Trombly had coordinated the rescue effort.

Trombly's actions helped save the man's life, said Lt. Joel Granata of St. Petersburg Fire Rescue.

"She jump-started his heart with that," Granata said.

Paramedics took the man to a hospital. As of Wednesday, he was in serious condition in St. Petersburg General's intensive care unit. His name was not released.

"I don't look at myself as a hero," Trombly said Tuesday night. "All I did was use a tool I had and push a button."

The men who performed CPR should get the credit, too, she said.

Trombly, a third-grade teacher at Northwest Elementary, has had the AED for two years.

She said her family was trained on the machine when her son's irregular heartbeat was diagnosed.

On Tuesday, Trombly and her three children had ducked into the store, which they usually don't frequent, to pick up a few things for dinner.

"We were just trying to beat the storm," Trombly said.

Trombly said she hopes the incident will motivate others to get CPR and defibrillator training.

"You never know when you're going to use it," Trombly said.

Kameel Stanley can be reached at (727) 893-8643 or kstanley@sptimes.com.