Gary Lombardi, 58, pushed broader use of defibrillator. dies
Matthew Kruk
October 17, 2009 by MATTHEW CHAYES / matthew...@newsday.com
Gary Lombardi, an FDNY physician whose push for defibrillators broadened
the use of the heart-shocking equipment beyond just medics, has died. He
was 58.
The cause of death last Monday was lung cancer, his daughter Brooke
said. He lived in West Hempstead.
Lombardi started as an ambulance driver, later earned his medical degree
and went on to be an emergency-medicine expert.
He was co-author of research that served as a catalyst for the expansion
of defibrillators.
Nowadays, defibrillators are found in police cars, in schools, in
workplaces and beyond.
Until retiring three months ago from the fire department's ambulance
service, Lombardi staffed the night shift in an office giving live
advice to paramedics in the field on split-second medical decisions only
a doctor can make.
Lombardi's Fire Department of New York title was "telemetry physician" -
a doctor who chooses which drugs to administer, decides whether a
patient is competent to refuse treatment and analyzes medical test
results relayed to the doctor electronically.
In 1994, Lombardi and his co-researchers found in one of the largest
studies of its kind that less than 2 percent of New Yorkers who go into
cardiac arrest outside the hospital survive to be discharged home. New
York City's survival rate, the researchers found, was far worse than
other places.
The way to improve the survival rate, in addition to CPR, is by
expanding defibrillator training to first responders, like police
officers, he said. An officer often arrives at an emergency scene vital
moments before a paramedic, he explained to Newsday in 1994.
Gary Emil Lombardi was born Jan. 14, 1951, in Brooklyn to Emil and Ann
Lombardi. The family moved to Elmont when he was a boy.
In 1969, at 18, Lombardi joined the city's then newly formed
government-run ambulance corps, Emergency Medical Service. He became one
of EMS' first paramedics, said the fire department, which took over the
service in 1996.
Lombardi earned a master's in 1974 from Hofstra and a medical degree in
1982 from Yeshiva University's Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Lombardi began his internal-medicine residency that year at Bronx
Municipal Hospital Center, now called Jacobi Medical Center. He became
chief resident there two years later.
Lombardi returned in 1985 to EMS to be a telemetry physician. He worked
the Sunday evening and overnight shifts until retiring on July 10, 2009.
He also worked at Ground Zero following the 9/11 attacks, his family
said.
Lombardi, who died at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, is
survived by his wife of 34 years, Jane; his daughters Brooke, Pamela and
Jill; by his mother, Ann, and brothers Robert and Mark.
His funeral was last Thursday at St. Thomas the Apostle Roman Catholic
Church in West Hempstead. Fire department personnel served as honor
guards at his wake.
Kris Baker
news:m2uCm.49882$Ca6....@en-nntp-03.dc1.easynews.com...
> Gary Lombardi, 58, pushed broader use of defibrillator. dies
> October 17, 2009 by MATTHEW CHAYES / matthew...@newsday.com
>
> Gary Lombardi, an FDNY physician whose push for defibrillators broadened
> the use of the heart-shocking equipment beyond just medics, has died. He
> was 58.
>
> The cause of death last Monday was lung cancer, his daughter Brooke said.
> He lived in West Hempstead.
Poor guy. Not a very good predictor. Lung reamer, perhaps?
Bless you, Gary.
I hope you have/had a sense of humor.
Kris