An Illinois personal trainer recently saved the life of a health club member, the second time he has done so in the past two years.
Joe Pignone, who works at Pavilion Fitness Club in Elk Grove Village, IL, was credited with reviving a person who went into cardiac arrest while working out at the club on Sept. 10, according to the Daily Herald, a suburban Chicago newspaper. Pignone used CPR and the club’s automated external defibrillator (AED) to revive the man, who also was helped by Elk Grove Park District employees.
In October 2009, Pignone and an off-duty paramedic revived a member with CPR and an AED, the newspaper reported.
Pignone has worked at the Pavilion Fitness Club since it opened 17 years ago and also serves as a personal trainer at the Prairie Stone Sports & Wellness Center in Hoffman Estates, IL, according to the newspaper. He has served as a corporate fitness manager and also worked at a Bally Total Fitness in Chicago.
“I must have earned my first CPR certification way back in college, but the only time I’ve ever needed it was during the last two years,” Pignone told the newspaper.