Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — “We were never trained to do CPR when it comes to an emergency.”

This was the response from several police officers Samoa News asked last week amid criticism from members of the public about the way DPS and EMS crews responded to an emergency when a player at a pickle ball game collapsed while sitting on a chair in between matches at the Tafuna DWYA gym last Wednesday evening.

Leota Mata’afa Kirikiti Silafau, also known by ‘Mac’, died last Wednesday night under very sad circumstances. Leota was a long time employee of the Department of Health. He was also a health educator.

Members of the public who were at the scene during the incident reached out to Samoa News last week to voice their frustration at the way DPS and EMS responded during the emergency and the fact that DPS officers, who arrived first on the scene, did not know how to perform CPR to save Leota’s life.

One witness told Samoa News that if the first responders had gotten there sooner, “they could have saved Leota’s life.”

Samoa News spoke to the EMS Chief on the telephone last Friday regarding the matter and he assured that he will respond to any questions sent through his email address. Questions were sent to Galumalemana Fuapopo Avegalio last Friday.

As of press time yesterday, Samoa News had received no response, however, during the telephone conversation, Galumalemana pointed out that people must understand that first responders follow protocol when it comes to an emergency and before anyone points a finger to the way first responders executed their service, people must understand that there are facts about what happened they must consider first.

Efforts to get a comment from the DPS were unsuccessful.

Police Commissioner Lefiti Aitulagi Pese was not at his office, Deputy Commissioner Foifoi Foifua Jr is currently off island, while Deputy Commissioner Jerry Letuli was not at his office last Friday.

A police investigation into this matter is underway and several witnesses submitted their statement to investigators about what they observed, while other witnesses were questioned and interviewed by investigators.

People who were at the scene did whatever they could to help Leota while awaiting the arrival of the first responders.

A woman and her son ran to the nearby police station and asked for help. They then ran to the EMS station across the street seeking assistance for Leota.

One witness who also submitted a statement to investigators told Samoa News that she was at the scene when Leota fell onto the floor from the chair where he was sitting and other players quickly responded and applied CPR while she called 911 for assistance.

After calling 911, the same witness ran to the Tafuna Police Substation (TPS) next door and asked for help. Her son also ran after her and immediately spoke to police officers who were at the TPS and informed them of what happened.

“At this point, I could see that there was no sense of urgency and the police officers acted like they didn’t care,” the witness said.

The witness yelled at the officers that someone needs help right now but their response was, “We know that and someone will come over to help.”

“Feeling like no one was making any effort to save this man’s life, I told my son to run with me to the EMS station across the street and ask them for help,” the witness said.

While running to the EMS station, she screamed out, “EMS, Help Please. Someone please help me. I banged on every window still screaming, trying to get the attention of anyone, and finally someone came out.”

The witness told the EMS crew who came outside that they are just across the street at DYWA and there is a man down on the ground and needs attention right away.

“The 3 EMS responders look startled, almost unsure of what to do. I am panicking at this point begging for help and they slowly walked back inside the building and slowing walked towards the ambulance,” the witness aid.

Officers arrived at the scene and observed people helping Leota and they just stood and watched in a sense that they didn’t care about what was going on.

“One player asked the officers to come and help but the response was, “We don’t know how to do CPR,” the witness said.

The EMS crew arrived and according to the witness, there was no sense of urgency. They slowly got out of the ambulance and slowly moved towards the back. They opened the doors and pulled out the stretcher.

One EMS crewmember wheeled the stretcher towards the stairs and the other was making sure to close the doors properly. They were not moving quickly.

Players who were at the scene assisted the EMS crew to move Leota’s body onto the stretcher.

“Several men stepped in to help. Some grabbed his arms and legs, no one instructed us what to do but everyone was trying to help. His body folded in the middle as they tried to lift him, but together they were able to ‘uncomfortably’ lift him onto the stretcher,” the witness said.

They all watched the EMS slowly put him in the ambulance, slowly close the doors, and then drive away.

“As a group we gathered together in prayer asking for the Lord’s blessing on Leota, on the medical staff, and on his family. As we conversed with each other, the frustration with everyone was the same, there was no sense of urgency by the first responders. We were screaming and sprinting and pleading for help, and they were walking and taking their time,” the witness said.

According to this witness, she was deeply saddened about what had happened that night. She was frustrated and greatly concerned about the training and execution of services by the first responders.

“We must do better than this. When an emergency occurs, first responders must be swift to action. Our first responders need to all be CPR certified and confident in providing that service,” the witness said.

She also believes that first responders need to know how to respond to a medical emergency and that names, ages, gender, and closing doors, are not as important as attending to someone literally struggling for their life.

The witness said Leota was still breathing but had a faint pulse when he was transported to the hospital. But, his life was not saved. He was pronounced dead on arrival at LBJ Hospital.

Leota, not only worked as a health educator for DoH but also served the same role at the American Samoa Environmental Protection Agency (AS-EPA).

He was a member of the Pago Pago Seventh-day Adventist Church where he held the position of a Senior Elder.

Samoa News offers its condolences to his wife and ch