VIENNA, Va. - A local heart attack victim has quick-thinking friends and an important piece of technology to thank for binging him back to life.

When the elevator door opened at Navy federal headquarters, Rick Allison found his co-worker lifeless; another man was shouting for help.

Allison says he immediately started doing CPR. "When I first saw him, I thought, 'Oh boy. We have a real situation here,'" said Allison "I thought he could die."

Then, fellow employee John Finnerty took action. "I came around I saw him on the ground doing chest compressions and I immediately turned around and ran and grabbed the AED," he said.

Employees at Navy federal headquarters were trained to use the Automatic External Defibrillator in just this kind of emergency. The machine provides a shock to restart a heart.

Finnerty says he'd never used it in a life or death situation before. "Only in training, only in training...but it was so easy to use," he said.

In the brief minutes it took the paramedics to arrive, the 49-year-old man had a heart beat and started breathing.

"The work that needed to be done was done prior to our arrival and the reason that person is there today is because of that early defibrillation which they had performed," noted Jason Abitz of Fairfax County (web | news) fire and rescue.

The man who was rushed to the hospital is expected to fully recover. His life was saved and two others have been changed forever.

"There were times during the compression I thought I was going to lose him," said Allison. "But he started breathing again and that really makes you feel great."

"It's a great feeling," added Finnerty. "It's a great feeling!"

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