Capt. Gail Lazenby of the Villages Public Safety Department worked a “Sunday miracle” when he recently saved a life at his church.
“God does that. He puts the right person at the right place. And Gail was that person,” said Father Mark Niznik of St. Paul Parish in Belleview.
It was Sunday Mass on Feb. 9 when a parishioner fell ill.
Lazenby, who is studying to be a deacon and was wearing his robes in church, heard the man’s wife call out, “We are having some difficulty here.”
That’s when Lazenby stepped into action, said Father Mark who had missed church that morning due to illness.
“Gail did what comes so naturally to him,” said Villager Evan Richards, who worships at St. Paul Parish.
He witnessed Lazenby start chest compressions and call out for the church’s automated external defibrillator.
Lazenby had personally paid for the AED.
“He said, there might be a need for it some day. He was right,” said Father Mark. “It was our Sunday miracle.”
Lazenby, a resident of the Village of Belle Aire, is set to retire at the end of the month from the Villages Public Safety Department.
He was much more modest about the “Sunday miracle.”
“It’s part of what I do,” he said.
The man was transported to UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville that Sunday. He is now recovering at home.
