As an offensive lineman on his college football team, the main job of Logan Tonini ‘26O&P — all 6’4” and 290 pounds of him — was to protect his quarterback from harm.
And, now as a student in the Orthotics and Prosthetics (O&P) program at Salus at Drexel University, Tonini is still helping to protect people.
Recently, as Tonini was leaving his externship at Hanger Clinic in Portland, Maine, he encountered a panicked woman rushing into the clinic who was on the phone to 9-1-1 emergency personnel.
The woman told Tonini her husband was slumped in the driver’s seat of their car and wasn’t breathing. Tonini followed her back to the car, where the woman, still on the phone with 9-1-1, was attempting CPR with chest compressions and rescue breaths.
“I realized that wasn’t going to work, so I reached in and felt for a pulse and didn’t feel any,” said Tonini. “I asked the 9-1-1 operator if there was any reason not to pull the guy from the car. They said no.”
That was where being the size of an offensive lineman may have been the difference between life and death. Tonini reached into the car, grabbed the man under his armpits and with some help from the clinic manager, lifted him out of the car and laid him flat on the ground.
“He was kind of heavy, around 200 pounds. But I’m a little bigger,” said Tonini.
At the instruction of the 9-1-1 operator, Tonini took off his jacket in the 20-degree weather and put it under the man’s head. He then proceeded to do CPR on the man for three to five minutes before paramedics arrived and took over the rescue efforts.
“I hope that anyone would have done CPR if they were in that situation,” said Tonini. “I was able to do that extra thing he needed at the time, which was to physically lift him out of the front seat of the car and move him to the ground. The chest compressions that his wife was trying to do weren’t going to be effective with him sitting up in the car.”
For Tonini, it was a scenario he knew all too well. In fact, he had once been on the receiving end of a life-saving situation.
Two years ago while making dinner for his family, Tonini went into cardiac arrest at his home. His wife Ashley performed CPR on him until paramedics arrived.
“So, witnessing this woman having the worst day of her life watching her husband be unresponsive, I felt like I understood what she was going through,” said Tonini.
Originally from the suburbs of Houston, Tonini attended Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, where he played two years of football and graduated with a physics degree. He was certain he wanted to work in the prosthetics profession and he knew he wanted to make a difference in people’s lives.
“The biomechanics application of physics and how it relates to O&P really drew me to it,” he said. “We work with these devices that help patients with their activities of daily living and enhancing the performance of their bodies.”
Tonini chose the Salus/Drexel O&P program because it offered the type of externship model — the three-year O&P program offers a year and a half of didactic training and a year and a half of externship experience. It was during his didactic coursework in which he learned CPR.
“Some clinics require CPR certification, some don’t. I figured I’d get it while I was there,” said Tonini. “I’m an Eagle Scout and was a lifeguard for a long time, so I’ve completed all the safety requirements and first aid certifications.”
His career plans include finishing his externship and then going out and helping people. “This is such a great field for changing people’s lives,” he said. “Watching an amputee take their first steps after going through such a traumatic experience. The difference that some of the devices we provide can make is amazing. It’s really a blessing to help and serve people in that way.”
The last word Tonini heard was that the patient he helped was in stable condition. And, though he was in the right place at the right time to help the patient, he believes he wasn’t alone during the situation.
“I’m very religious and I do believe that God’s hand was in it,” he said. “Me being there and being the person able to pull him out of the car, I don’t think anyone else in our clinic would have been able to do that.”
Hanger Clinic officials are pleased to have Tonini as an extern and how he reacted to the crisis.
"I am super proud to have a person like Logan with our team and to realize he is a awesome, caring person that went above and beyond the normal responsibilities of a resident or most people,” said John P. “Jay” Roy, CPO, Tonini’s supervisor at Hanger.
