Copiague health club member revived after collapsing

-A Copiague health club member who was near death after collapsing while on a treadmill Monday afternoon was revived with the help of a defibrillator, others club customers and responding police officers.

Milton Gilpin, 52, of West Babylon, collapsed at the Bally Total Fitness on Sunrise Highway about 1:30 p.m., Suffolk police said.

Scott Parlatore, 50, of Massapequa, a retired New York City firefighter, said he had just finished physical therapy when it happened. "I was all done, showered, and was walking out when I heard screaming," Parlatore said. "He was just lying on the ground on his back, and everybody was standing around" but then everyone moved quickly.

Parlatore said he rushed over and began mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and several others there, including a nurse, checked for vitals and took turns doing chest compressions.

Suffolk officers Jamie Schmidt and Christopher Carrano arrived to join in the effort, and with the health club's defibrillator the group brought Gilpin back to breathing on his own, and with a heart beat, police said.

With breathing restored, Gilpin was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip, where he was reported in stable condition, police said.

"I did CPR three times on the job, and all three times the person died, so this is the first time it worked," Parlatore said. "He went from dead to alive. When we got the pulse back, the whole place started clapping."

- BILL MASON