The following article is reprinted with the permission of the Staten Island Advance.

Judge John Fusco has presided over many an important matter during his years of service on the Surrogate Court bench. But late Sunday afternoon, he had a dramatic effect outside of chambers.

Fusco quickly administered CPR to a woman who had lost consciousness in the hallway outside the Wagner College Theatre on the Grymes Hill campus, and his action to resuscitate her quite possibly saved her life.

"I've had blackout spells before; they usually last about five seconds and I come out of them on my own. [Sunday's incident] was estimated to be about 20 seconds," said Amy Mallin, who, like Fusco, had just exited the theater after watching Wagner's production of the musical "Chess." It was shortly before 5 p.m.

"I don't know if I would've come out of it without the judge's help," said the 61-year-old West Brighton resident, who was listed in stable condition yesterday at St. Vincent's Hospital, where she is slated to have a pacemaker installed this week. "I didn't know who it was at the time, but I'd love to thank him."

"[Mrs. Mallin] was walking alongside me, and I saw her go down against the wall. When I got to her, her eyes were staring straight up through her glasses. I couldn't get a pulse; she was out of it," said Fusco, who was with his wife, Carol. Both Fuscos took a first aid course given by the Red Cross about 12 years ago at Staten Island Academy, Dongan Hills, where they learned CPR and the Heimlich maneuver.

Fusco breathed into Mrs. Mallin's mouth, pressed down on her chest three times, then exhaled into her mouth a second time.

"On that second exhale, she blew out. She was OK and smiling," said Fusco, noting it was the third time he's used his CPR training. "I said to her, 'I hope my breath wasn't bad.' "

"He apologized for his breath, but I had no idea he had performed CPR," admitted Mrs. Mallin, a prekindergarten teacher at PS 361 in Brooklyn.

Fusco had asked "if there was [an automated external defibrillator, or AED] around, but there wasn't."

That could soon change, however, as Councilman James Oddo's bill mandating defibrillators in thousands of public locations was signed into law yesterday by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

"It's just fortunate that Judge Fusco was there," said Oddo (R-Mid-Island/Brooklyn), who also is certified to administer CPR. "I'm sure when he went to see the show, he didn't expect to have his CPR skills tested. I'm just glad he was prepared, like he always is."

"I had no idea it was the judge, but he was terrific. He came over right away," said Phyllis Horwitz, who has season tickets for Wagner's productions and attended Sunday with Mrs. Mallin. "I'm very grateful to the judge, and to another Good Samaritan -- a woman in a green coat -- who called 911 on her cell phone and stayed with us until EMS arrived."

Mrs. Mallin said she experienced her first fainting spell late last year, while boarding the Staten Island Ferry. Then last month she blacked out twice while staying in a time-share in Orlando, and she spent two days in a Florida hospital. Last Wednesday at St. Vincent's Hospital, a 24-hour monitor -- an Insertable Loop Recorder System -- was implanted in her chest to record her heart rhythm and help diagnose her problem.

"I hope I did some good. That was my reason for taking the course," said Fusco, who also taught first-aid techniques when he was a first lieutenant and headquarters company commander at an Army base in Fort Hood, Texas, from 1963 to 1965.

"It's one thing to take the course, but it's another thing to actually have to do it," the judge said.