Saskatoon man goes into cardiac arrest in Walmart parking lot, life saved by three quick-thinking strangers

Last Friday evening in a Saskatoon Walmart parking lot, 62-year-old John Tomchuk was loading groceries into his vehicle when he went into cardiac arrest and collapsed on the ground.

Two off-duty health workers and a third Good Samaritan spotted him in front of the store and rushed to his aid. The health workers immediately started performing CPR on Tomchuk while the third person ran back into the store, looking for an automated external defibrillator (AED).

Walmart didn’t have one.

The person then ran to a nearby Cabela’s and found an AED machine — just in time.

“Cabela’s retail stores maintain AEDs on site for just such emergencies,” said John Tramburg, the company’s vice-president of Canada and outdoor services.

"That’s actually what saved his life. If it hadn’t been for that machine, they would have lost them," Tomchuk’s daughter, Lisa Wass, told CBC News.

Paramedics arrived on the scene shortly after. Tomchuk regained consciousness before being taken to the hospital.

Wass still doesn’t know the identity of the third person who helped save her father’s life. She expressed her gratitude to the quick-thinking strangers through CBC News.

The incident is forcing Walmart to consider instal defibrillators at their stores.

“We are in the process of evaluating the need and feasibility for our stores to maintain a defibrillator on site,” said Alex Roberton, director of Walmart Canada corporate affairs.

“Our stores do not currently have defibrillators on site.”

According to the Canadian Press:

“The Heart and Stroke Foundation says survival rates increase by 50 per cent if both defibrillation and CPR are administered in the first few minutes of a cardiac arrest; with each passing minute, that chance of survival drops by up to 10 per cent.”

"We are working with governments and businesses to install AEDs in all public places, so that they are as common as fire extinguishers," the foundation said in a statement. “We encourage any business that has a high volume of customers or staff to consider installing one.”