EAST PATCHOGUE, N.Y. — Protecting and treating people is all part of Arnold Reyes' life of public service, whether he's serving as a Suffolk County Police Officer, or as command sergeant major in the New York Army National Guard.
So Dec. 19 — when he and others literally brought Kathleen Manganello, a 72-year old retired librarian, back to life here — was just another day for Reyes.
"I guess it's just ingrained...helping people," he reflected.
But for Manganello's family, Reyes is much more.
He's an "amazing superhero," her son, Andrew, told WLNY news during a January press conference in which Reyes was reunited with Manganello and her family.
An Iraq veteran who served in Baghdad in 2004 and 2005, Reyes' life of public service also includes 16 years in the Suffolk County Police Department and about 28 years in the Army infantry. Now the command sergeant major of the 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry, the Selden, New York, resident has served most of his Army career in the New York Army National Guard.
As a Soldier, police officer and volunteer firefighter, Reyes has racked up an array of medical qualifications, including combat lifesaver and emergency medical technician. For the last three years, he's been a member of the police department's Medical Crisis Action Team, which responds to emergency incidents like active shooters and barricaded subjects.
But, Reyes stressed, his infantry training and civilian training work hand-in-hand — whether he's serving as a Soldier, police officer or firefighter.
"My tactical sense is infantry," he said. "I run things with a tactical mindset. I analyze before I react."
That mindset was probably at work at around 3:20 a.m. on Dec. 19. Firefighters of the North Patchogue Fire Department Ambulance responded to the report of a woman who had no pulse and was unresponsive, according to the Suffolk County Police Department.
In addition to performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the woman, the firefighters administered multiple shocks with an automated external defibrillator, police officials said. Reyes, meanwhile, had heard the call on the radio and was on his way to the scene, which was in the bedroom of her house.
"I volunteered to go," Reyes recalled. "I wound up running the call. When I walked in, the fire department was already working on her."
Manganello's family was also in the room, watching the firefighters work, Reyes said. In addition to having no pulse, the woman wasn't breathing, and the firefighters had already shocked her three times without success, he said.
The firefighters briefed him on the situation, and Reyes offered to help.
But they were facing a medical conundrum: a massive injection of epinephrine - commonly known as adrenaline - could restart the woman's heart, but she didn't have a pulse to pump the lifesaving medication to her heart, Reyes explained.
Her veins were also likely collapsed, so administering adrenaline intravenously (IV) was useless, he added.
"I knew right then it was going to be a difficult IV stick," Reyes said. "I wasn't going to waste my time with an IV."
Reyes also knew that they'd have to go to the bone — literally. So he reached for a last-ditch medical intervention known as an intraosseous needle.
Actually a drill, the device allows emergency medical responders to penetrate bone and administer medication via the bone marrow, so it can circulate through the body, Reyes explained.
"You actually drill it right into the bone," he said.
Picking a spot on Manganello's leg below her kneecap, Reyes proceeded to drill into her tibia and administer the adrenaline.
Though adrenaline was now on its way to the woman's heart, Reyes' own adrenaline hadn't risen at all throughout the incident.
"I'm usually pretty calm," he explained.
Reyes' even demeanor and medical intervention paid off. Within three minutes Manganello's breathing and pulse had resumed, and he and the firefighters took her to the intensive-care unit at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center, Reyes said.
Manganello has been discharged from the hospital and is continuing to recover, Reyes said. He's checked up on her from time to time, and she and her family are very grateful to him, he added.
"I'm very close with the family now," Reyes said.
Reyes said that saving the woman's life was a team effort. He also enjoys the teamwork and camaraderie of the Army, and "being part of something greater than myself."
"I think that everything I do is greater than myself...the Army, the police department, the fire department, all rolled into one," he said.