|
|
| McNabb teacher stresses importance of CPR training after helping save life |
|
|
8/10/2018
By Brianna Stephens
Advocate Staff writer
A local teacher recently had the chance to reunite with a man who he and his mother helped save via CPR in November.
“You can’t really define how amazing it is to watch somebody walk after you feel their life has left them,” McNabb Middle School teacher Adam Allison said. “We truly believe that God was with us through that situation.”
Allison and his mother were shopping at Montgomery County Traders Market at the time and talking with the owner Brenda Ball when they heard a loud thump.
The noise they heard was that of an elderly man who had collapsed in the middle of the store.
Allison and his mother noticed the man, named Gene Smith, was very pale. Being a retired nurse, Allison said his mother sensed Smith was going into cardiac arrest, and the two knew something needed to be done.
“My mom looked at me and I looked at her and we immediately started CPR,” Allison said.
While he performed chest compressions, his mother breathed for Smith until paramedics arrived.
When Smith was put into the ambulance, paramedics told Allison he had a weak pulse, but he wouldn’t have made it if it wasn’t for the CPR.
“There’s nothing more self assuring to know you saved a person’s life,” Allison said. “It’s something that was self assuring and gratifying for us to know that this happened.”
After the event, Ball kept in touch with Smith, who eventually wanted to meet his rescuers. Smith recently met Allison and his mother at the place they first encountered one another and had the chance to say thanks.
“He was very gracious and thankful for that,” Allison said. He added that Smith had on a Superman T-shirt, which was fitting for the kind of person he was for overcoming his rehab and doing well.
Even though he has been certified to perform CPR, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, for several years, and he has heard stories of his mother doing it both in the emergency room and public, Allison admitted the situation was scary.
“You don’t realize how perilous you seem when somebody’s life is in your hands,” Allison said.
However, it’s better to be prepared and to potentially save someone’s life, he added.
“I think it’s important to get this training,” Allison said. “You never know when a situation like this will present itself.”
After his rescue, Allison communicated with the local Montgomery County Fire-EMS Dept. and other services to coordinate a free CPR class. The class, sponsored by the Montgomery County Fire/EMS dept. via the American Redcross, was held Aug. 8.
“(My mother and I) don’t want to be heroes about this. We want to bring awareness about (CPR),” Allison said. “Just to have the fire dept. to do something just shows the integrity they have as people.”
There are CPR instructors on the dept. staff who offer public classes in their spare time, according to the dept.’s website. Call 498-1318 or visit www.mcfdems.com for more information.
|
|
|
|
|