‘He didn’t get to vote, but he got to live.’ Man has heart attack at DC polling place

As voters took to the polls to decide who will control the U.S. House and Senate, one man nearly lost his life waiting to cast his ballot.

A man, who has not yet been identified, was waiting in line at the Barnard Elementary School in Northwest Washington, D.C., when he collapsed after going into cardiac arrest, according to a tweet from the city’s Office of Unified Communications.

The DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department tweeted that the man “didn’t get to vote, but he got to live.”

That’s because of the quick actions of some poll workers and first responders, according to WTOP.

Allie Bobak was a nonpartisan observer at the polling place when the 75-year-old man, who used to work as a custodian at the school, had a heart attack, WTOP reported.

Bobak said “immediately everyone rushed to him” as she and school counselor Sandra Montgomery helped tend to the man as someone called 911, WTOP reported. Jenee Wood answered that 911 call — and helped provide guidance on how to keep the man alive.

“The keyword is that he was snoring and I know from my training that’s agonal breathing,” she told WTOP, “so that’s when I said we need to get someone to initiate CPR.”

An automated external defibrillator located in the school was used to save the man’s life, according to WJLA. He is now in the hospital.

The Office of Unified Communications credited Wood with keeping the man alive.

“KUDOS to 911 call taker Jenee Wood who talked a bystander through CPR instructions after a man went into cardiac arrest at the Barnard ES polling site this morning,” it wrote on Twitter. “We are so very proud of you Ms. Wood!”

This story was originally published November 6, 2018 at 8:33 PM.