The CPR Lady (Part 2)

By Gina Mayfield

Dr. Brown tells her story in her own words, below.

Why did you become an instructor?
My mother, who was a trauma nurse in a hospital emergency room, started me with the American Heart Association when I was 16 years old. I fell in love with CPR. There was something about hope. And then I started hearing so many people say, “My grandmother, died. She collapsed, and we called for help, and they just didn’t get there in time.” And I couldn’t take it. I was like, Katherine, you’ve got an opportunity to teach people that didn’t do anything, they just stood there, because they didn’t know that there was something that they could do. And that’s when I left my position at an inner-city hospital and opened up the CPR company.

Dr. Brown holding a book she wrote
Dr. Brown with her book, I Am Courageous

How long have you been involved with the American Heart Association and in what capacities have you served?
Well, like I said, since the age of 16 as a volunteer. I have been the Southeastern Region Community Service Chair and the Southeastern Region Advocacy Chair. I’ve been on that the government team for Tennessee. I’ve done the Go Red for Women campaign. I’ve been a training center faculty member. I serve on the AHA’s Emergency Cardiovascular Care (ECC) Committee. I’m the current Lay Rescuer CPR Chair for the National ECC Committee. I’m on an AHA writing group. I do a lot for my Nashville AHA office. I’ve done the Minority Health committees. I’m currently on a National Diversity Leadership Committee for the AHA. I just got appointed to the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) on their diversity task force. It’s a lot of things – local, regional and national.

Are you involved with a specific training site?
The world is my literally training center. Remember, you don’t have to be aligned with anybody just to teach. I went to Medellin, Columbia. Guess what I took on the plane with me? CPR manikin. Same with Johannesburg, South Africa. That’s how I’ve ended up teaching so many people. I just feel that everyone really, really needs to know CPR.

Tell us about your approach to CPR training.
Be fearless and be innovative, that’s my approach. And I’m not afraid of people. So remember, most instructors say, “I’m going to host a class at this location.” But why are you waiting for people to come to you? If there’s a group of people congregated, that’s your class. I’m just going to disrupt with a “Heyyyyy…” You will usually get a “yes” if you just have the courage to make the ask.

Do you have any best practices you would like to share, anything unique that can be replicated or utilized by others?
If I approach someone about learning CPR, and they say no, I don’t take the no instantly. I’ll say, “Tell me why.” They’ll likely explain to me that they don’t want to hurt anyone. So I’ll say, “Can I share with you a simple math problem? What is death plus death? They say, “Death.” I’m like, “Yeah, it is, so what’s death plus CPR? Sounds like a chance, right?” They’ll say, “Yeah.” So I say, “Do you think people deserve a chance? If something happened to you, would you want a chance? Everybody wants a chance. I’m just asking you to trust me for a few minutes and let me show you. That’s it. If you don’t want to push, let me explain it to you first and show you.” Then I teach them. And I say, “Now, can you put your hand here for me, you don’t have to push, just let me show you.” It’s just a slow progression. Don’t forget to do this in your own families as well.

What specific training do you offer?
Early on, seeing those emergency rooms where my mother worked, I felt that sometimes the cost of being trained was a barrier, because instructors have to charge, but everybody doesn’t have money. Saving a life is priceless. You couldn’t put a price tag on it. So, around 2008, when the AHA really came out with that push for Hands-Only CPR, it really gave me a different tool, a different arsenal. I just feel like it’s hope in the darkest communities. And I do CPR classes. I do the Healthcare Professional class as well as the Heartsaver class, both the First Aid and AED. But the majority of my work is with people who can’t pay me, people who might never take a CPR class. They’re the people who will take a moment to give me those 15 minutes of their life so they can go back into their communities and make a difference.

Do you utilize any community products?
I do. The AHA produces community products. That’s what I specialize in. I have a video of me teaching Hands-Only CPR on the AHA website. I also do the CPR Anytime Kits, I do the Essential Eight. But I feel like CPR is just one tool, and it’s reactive. So I try be proactive by reminding people to make sure they lower their salt intake and get their blood pressure checked. It’s easy to integrate those things into my classes. And anytime AHA comes out with something new, I use it. I think that we have to equip and empower our communities in very innovative ways, so I try not to miss opportunities. I always tell people, download the AHA app. Sign up for the You’re the Cure network, because you can get the advocacy alerts in your community. These are simple things the average instructor isn’t doing. The AHA website is a never-ending reservoir of knowledge.

What barriers to learning CPR do we as instructors have to break down?
Another best practice for me is Don’t let money be a barrier. There are a lot of instructors saying, “I have to charge this amount or that amount.” You know what? That life that you save by reducing that cost, or having a time where you offer so many classes at no charge, will be a blessing to other people. People ask me, “Why are you so successful in CPR? We’ve never met somebody like you who’s trained over 300,000 people for free, around the world. I say because I focus on people. People matter. As long as you keep people at the core of what you do, you could do almost anything. That’s the key. I think instructors need to realize that, to put people first. Always remember why you became an instructor.

Any advice for someone else who notices the need for a new trail to be blazed?
You know your community best. Listen and do what your community needs. Focus on that. What works for me in the places I serve, nationally and internationally, might not work in your community. The work we do is tough. You’ve got to be resilient. If you put out a registration form and host a class, and no one shows up, do it again. We give up too soon. I’ve been teaching CPR thirty-something years, and the AHA is 100 years old, and the message hasn’t changed. We’re still fighting. Keep showing up.

What motivates you?
I can’t guarantee that if you perform CPR, your loved one will survive. I can’t guarantee that the stranger you try to help will make it, but I just want to teach people and encourage them to give somebody a chance. Just give them a chance. All of my children are involved in this work, because it really makes a difference.

Favorite AHA events?
Listen, I just got to go to Chicago for the AHA centennial anniversary celebration. I had a dream come true because I got to dance with Nancy Brown while they were playing Stayin’ Alive! That was my favorite event in the world. That will never happen again. But I do love Heart Walks too.

What was your most memorable experience as an instructor?
I was teaching a Boy Scout troop, and this mother came in and said, “Dr. Katherine, that’s the baby.” I was like, “What? What baby?” Turns out, I had taught this mother while she was pregnant with the son I was currently teaching. I love seeing generations. Another time, I taught a granddaughter, mother and a grandmother who was 100 years old doing CPR for the first time in her life.

Social Media:
#LearnCPRAmerica
#DrKatherineYBrown

Instagram:
@DrKatherineYBrown
@LearnCPRAMERICA

Facebook:
@DrKatherineBrown
@LearnCPRAmerica

Twitter:
@KatherineYBrown
@LearnCPRAmerica

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherineybrown/

The CPR Lady (Part 1)

By Gina Mayfield

About 20 years ago, Dr. Katherine Y. Brown launched a freestanding CPR company on the South Side of Chicago, knowing the underserved people living there were the least likely to get CPR. She thought, If you build it, they will come.

Dr. Katherine Y. Brown receiving award

They didn’t come. So she went to them. At last count, she has taught more than 300,000 people to administer CPR in a safe, timely and efficient manner.

But all those years ago, Dr. Katherine, who holds a doctorate in education, had to go find people to teach. That meant showing up at churches on Easter Sunday, visiting sorority houses during rush week, and if a local store had weave on sale and a long line, she was there with her manikin. “Here’s my premise,” she says. “If you don’t come to me, I’m going to come to you, but I’m going to be strategic and go to places that I know you’re going to be at.” She started canvassing parks and housing projects, where she would find sometimes people playing basketball. “I would just go up to them and say, ‘Hey, if something happens out here, do y’all know what to do?’ They would just look at me like I was this crazy woman, and ask, ‘What do you mean?’ And there I was with my manikin, and I would teach them CPR,” she says.

At one point she was going door to door, sometimes with a baby on her hip, or standing on street corners with a sign that read: Honk if you know CPR. If you don’t, pull over and I’ll teach you. And she did. Eventually, she became known around town as The CPR Lady. Eventually, people did start coming to her. “What winded up happening was that I started getting calls from people in other states asking me to come. And I was like, This is not just training, it’s a movement,” Dr. Katherine says. “So I decided the name of my company should be a call to action: Learn CPR America. I felt like every household needs somebody trained.”

A mother of four, Dr. Brown founded the Roberta Baines-Wheeler Pulmonary Hypertension Awareness Group in honor of her own late mother and developed a leadership academy that bears her name, in part to train the next generation of global health care leaders. She’s a highly sought-after speaker, both in-person and in the media, and a consultant specializing in community engagement. She has taught for The Links Incorporated, the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority’s Boule event, the Kiwanis International, Lions Clubs International, among many other highly respected organizations. At one point, The Links Incorporated went to Jamaica, and Dr. Katherine went with them along with her manikin. “Any organization that had people, that’s where I went. That was my strategy. I was always very grass roots, and that’s how things grew.”

So what can we learn from her creativity, innovation and unstoppable spirit? Turns out, a lot. Please come back next week for Part 2 of Dr. Brown’s amazing story, in her own words. In the meantime, here is how to connect with her:

#LearnCPRAmerica 
#DrKatherineYBrown

Instagram: 
@DrKatherineYBrown
@LearnCPRAMERICA 

Facebook: 
@DrKatherineBrown
@LearnCPRAmerica

Twitter: 
@KatherineYBrown
@LearnCPRAmerica

LinkedIn: 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherineybrown

Aunt Trained in CPR Comes to the Rescue of 12-month-old Niece

By Gina Mayfield

One evening after work, as Ingrid Zuniga Izquierdo relaxed in the living room of her multigenerational home, her sister was bathing her 1-year-old daughter, Leslie, who had been fighting some chest congestion. After a vapor bath, Leslie was halfway through a diaper change when she let out a little whimper and turned purple. Ingrid’s sister scooped up Leslie and went screaming to the living room.

“My niece was purple, she was like a rag doll, she had no motion,” Ingrid says, “She was choking. She wasn’t breathing. My sister was panicking.” Ingrid, who has children of her own with respiratory issues, was ready. “I’ve taken CPR classes, so I know the drill. You go into that mode and do what you.” she says. Ingrid placed Leslie on the floor and immediately started child CPR, with compressions and breaths, while her sister called 911.

Ingrid with her younger family members

By this point, three generations of the family had gathered around. “The kids were crying as they were seeing what was going on, my mom too, everybody was just panicking. I was just in that mindset of ‘Okay, I have no time to panic. Either I’m going to do something about this, or it’s not going to end well.’” Ingrid says. “I was able to get Leslie to come out of it. As soon as she took her first breath, her color started to come back.”

Soon after, the EMTs arrived, assessed Leslie and took her to the ER where the doctor told Ingrid’s sister, if Ingrid hadn’t administered CPR, they would be dealing with a “completely different story” due to oxygen deprivation and what that does to the brain.

Leslie spent the night in the hospital and her parents got to take her home the next day. While doctors are still running tests to determine the full story, they suspect a contributing factor was phlegm from chest congestion that blocked Leslie’s airways.

“I told my sister, ‘I’m glad I was around. What would you have done? Leslie needed air, she needed help,’” Ingrid says.

“This whole experience was such an eye opener, it motivated my whole family to learn CPR. My mom doesn’t know much English, so my parents went to El Concilio, the Hispanic American Council, and they taught them to do CPR. I tell people not to allow a language barrier to stop them from learning CPR, you could save a life. I’m even teaching my 9-year-old daughter,” Ingrid says.

“People tend not to worry about things until they happen to them. But you never know when you’re going to need CPR,” Ingrid says. “I’m so thankful Leslie’s still here.”

Construction Worker Trained at Work Administers Hands-Only CPR, Saves Co-Worker’s Life

by Gina Mayfield

One afternoon, in the late summer heat of North Georgia, four E.R. Snell construction workers were busy on a job site. “We were building a new bridge and had some piles underneath it that we were bringing up to the top of a pretty steep hill,” says Jimmy Wilson, who was driving a tractor that day.  Also on scene was Lamar Henderson and Austin Parker, a guy they called Tiny, who was operating the bulldozer. Plus another employee in his 70s, Ron.

As Ron made his way to the top of the hill, Jimmy’s back was turned to him. “I heard a racket, and Tiny started blowing the horn,” Jimmy remembers. “I got out of the tractor and ran around it to find Ron on the ground unresponsive. He wasn’t breathing. I rolled him over. His eyes were glazed over. There was just nothing there.”

Tiny called 911 and Jimmy started chest compressions. “A few minutes into it, Ron gasped for air, and went right back out with no response. After several more minutes of chest compressions he finally got his breath and started to come to,” Jimmy says.  

Paramedics arrived in about 6 to 8 minutes, just as Ron regained consciousness. “He was incoherent and didn’t know what happened or where he was. The team had to coach him into the ambulance,” Jimmy says. Off Ron went to the hospital where he stayed for several days before returning home with a pacemaker and his wife who encouraged him to retire, which he did.

“The paramedics told us if we hadn’t started CPR, Ron wouldn’t  be here with us now. The doctors said the same thing,” Jimmy says. “Ron is in his 70s, but you would never know it. He would outwork some of the 20-year-old kids we had working with us. That’s just the kind of worker he was. It was just a shock for him to go down like that. He worked really hard every day. You just never know.”

That’s true. Nobody can predict when and where CPR will be needed to save a life. After E.R. Snell’s safety manager, Jason Robinson, joined the company five years ago he soon began providing significantly more First Aid/CPR/AED training classes. As a career retired firefighter/paramedic, he understood the importance of training all employees, not just those on construction sites. He added two instructors and started training and certifying superintendents and foremen, then crew leads, and is working toward a goal of reaching 100 percent of the staff, including the administrative team. He says that’s absolutely doable without interfering with production.

Jimmy had taken one of Jason’s classes just a few months before saving Ron. These days, Jason shares their story even beyond the walls of E.R. Snell to encourage other organizations in their area to make CPR training a priority. When asked, he’ll even teach the class himself.

“If it weren’t for me having that CPR training, we would have been in big trouble that day,” Jimmy says. “We would have been in panic mode, and it wouldn’t have dawned on me to start CPR that quickly. . We might have started compressions eventually, but I wouldn’t have known that time matters. Minutes matter. Seconds matter.,” Jimmy says. “I’m just glad I had that CPR training. In my opinion, every workplace should offer some kind of first-aid training and CPR classes, because it really helped us.”


Bystander Renders Aid in Busy Restaurant

By Gina Mayfield

Friday nights for Israel Rodriguez and his family often involve winding down the workweek at a local restaurant. On one cold winter night in late January, they decided they were in the mood for Italian and headed to one of their favorite places. Just as they started to dig into appetizers, Israel sensed that something didn’t seem quite right with the family at the table directly across from them.

“I noticed the lady starting to panic. She’s patting her husband on the back, and she’s got this really worried look on her face. She gets up, starts trying to cry for help but can barely get the words out, then she seemed really afraid,” Israel says. The couple’s two little girls just sat at the table in shock. ”I pictured my family in that situation, if that were me,” Israel says, and he immediately got up to help.

“As soon as I started to walk over there to check on the man, his head hit the table,” Israel says. So Israel rushed over and started abdominal thrusts. On about the fourth thrust, what may have been a piece of ice dislodged from the man’s throat. He looked up at Israel and asked, “What’s going on? What happened?” He had completely lost consciousness.

What happened was that in a busy Italian restaurant with a Friday night crowd, only Israel rushed in to help. No one else stepped up, not even the manager or waitstaff. No one called 911. Lucky for Lee, the survivor, Israel had just completed a CPR & First Aid refresher course as a volunteer in the children’s ministry at his church. He and his wife had been taking life-saving courses for years.

Things settled down that night after the rescue, and Israel checked on Lee’s wife and children and made sure they were all okay. Lee’s family stayed and had their dinner — and bought Israel’s meal too.

In this day and age, Israel says that in an emergency people sometimes first think of recording an event, rather than rendering aid. “But a social media post isn’t going to help anybody in a life-threatening situation,” he says. “That was one of the things that really stood out to me about that night. If I hadn’t helped Lee, I don’t know if he would have had any help.”

Looking back, Israel also thinks about fully trained bystanders who have taken CPR courses, yet still hesitate to act because they’re afraid of hurting the victim. “It’s either you do something and give that person a chance, or do nothing and let them die. Step into action and increase their odds,” he says.      

That’s exactly what Israel did on that fateful Friday. Months later, he and Lee are still in touch. Lee reached out on Father’s Day, a holiday that undoubtedly meant a little more this year, especially to Lee’s two little girls who were with him in the restaurant. “It could have gone an entirely differently way that night,” Israel says.

The AHA is committed to transforming a nation of bystanders into a Nation of Lifesavers. Join the movement that can make a difference in the life of someone’s partner, parent, friend, or family.

First responders help save teenage boy’s life after he collapses at gym

Paramedics Boyd Hansbro and Gabriel Morales had just finished transporting a patient to the hospital on July 7, 2023, when a dispatch call came in just after 1:30 p.m. in Grand Prairie, a suburb in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

The call noted that a person had collapsed at the gym.

“Ninety-nine times out of 100, it’s someone who has overexerted themselves because they’re lifting and they get up and pass out,” Boyd said. “So it doesn’t raise any alarms for us.”

The emergency was outside Boyd’s service area. But as Boyd and Gabriel, who work for the Grand Prairie Fire Department, were on the closest ambulance, they headed to the 24 Hour Fitness where the person had collapsed.

As the ambulance was en route, Boyd received updated notes from dispatch that the person was not breathing. Boyd knew immediately the situation was serious.

Left to right: Firefighter/EMTP Gabriel Morales, LT/EMTP Chris Sieg, Jaylen Floyd, Firefighter/EMTP Boyd Hansbro, Firefighter/EMTP Brent Flath, and Firefighter/EMTP Thomas Haire

A fire truck had arrived on scene first. The truck’s crew of first responders  – Chris Sieg, Pat Schuster, Thomas Haire and Brent Flath – had started CPR on the 17-year-old, Black patient named Jaylen Floyd. The first responders also shocked him two times with a defibrillator. They also applied an airway device to open his airway and administered epinephrine. Boyd and Gabriel soon arrived at the scene. Boyd served as the lead paramedic.

“It turns into business,” Boyd said of the EMS response.  “We know what we need to do. And that is regardless of the surroundings really. We know what we need to do to take care of whatever we’re dealing with the best way that we know possible.”

As part of Boyd’s role, he gathered as much information about what happened from  Jaylen’s friends who told him that it appeared Jaylen had been resting on the curl bar. However, a gym member who was nearby looked at Jaylen and realized he wasn’t breathing.

Boyd learned the gym member had started CPR before first responders even arrived. Boyd said this lay responder was the unsung hero in the situation.

“Apparently they were doing a fantastic job,” Boyd said of the lay responder. “That person probably did more than anyone to make sure the outcome was good for Jaylen.”

The team of first responders were at the scene for about 15 minutes before Jaylen was transported by ambulance to Medical Center of Arlington. Boyd said they also had to shock Jaylen while in the ambulance.

About a minute away from the hospital, Boyd was providing bag-valve-mask ventilations to Jaylen when there was a moment that surprised him.

“He sucked that bag completely out of air,” Boyd recalled. “I was really hopeful at that point. I was like ‘Man, he is going to make it.’

Boyd said he had never had a patient completely take one big breath like Jaylen did while providing bag-valve-mask ventilation.

Jaylen was first hospitalized at Medical Center of Arlington for a couple of hours, and then was transported to Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth where he spent five days in the ICU.

Tracy Floyd, Jaylen’s mother, said doctors diagnosed Jaylen with long QT syndrome, which caused the cardiac arrest. He now has a subcutaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillator and takes betablockers. She said he is healthy and doing well.

“He is doing absolutely amazing,” she said. “We were truly blessed.”

Jaylen is a high school senior who played the alto saxophone in the band at Timberview High School. He graduates on May 24, 2024, and will attend college at Oklahoma State University.

“He really is a good kid,” Tracy said. “He has given me no problems throughout his tenure of being a teenager, and so I’m very grateful for that for sure.”

Left to right: Firefighter/EMTP Gabriel Morales, LT/EMTP Chris Sieg, Demetra Hight (sister), Tracy Floyd (mom), Jaylen Floyd, Roderick Floyd (dad), Firefighter/EMTP Boyd Hansbro, Firefighter/EMTP Brent Flath, Firefighter/EMTP Thomas Haire

Jaylen, Tracy and the rest of their family met with the team of first responders who treated him. Hugs were exchanged. Tracy said she is forever grateful to the EMS professionals who responded with urgency and compassion.

“You cannot replace a human’s life,” she said. “There are not enough thanks you, hugs, money. It’s priceless. I’m extremely grateful. I have the utmost gratitude for the care they provided and for the selflessness of the first team to go ahead and respond after finishing up a call and it wasn’t even their call to go to. So my hats off to their work they exhibited before the second team arrived and came.”

Tracy is also thankful for the lay responder – a stranger – who immediately started performing CPR on Jaylen. She said the lay responder’s actions demonstrate the importance of the public learning CPR especially as research has shown that Black children are less likely to receive lay responder CPR.

In a study published in 2022 in the American Heart Association’s flagship journal, Circulation, the findings showed that Black and Hispanic children are less likely to receive bystander CPR than white children during an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

“The message I would have would be to please learn the basics for starting chest compressions or using an AED. He is a Black kid. You’re not likely to respond to a Black child or Black person unfortunately….. he is a kid who has a full life ahead so the importance of a lay responder just to learn and just to do compressions, it can save a life. It literally saved a life. It saved my son’s life,” Tracy said.

Each year, EMS Week is celebrated in the United States. This year’s EMS Week marks the 50th anniversary that the tradition has been held. EMS Week honors the dedication and commitment of EMS professionals. It represents a time to express gratitude for the lifesaving work that EMS workers do.

Boyd said he is glad Jaylen is doing well and he’ll remember this EMS Week how he and his fellow first responders worked to save his life. Boyd also said he encourages the public to learn CPR and not to rely on learning CPR from the movies where the technique is usually not shown properly because the rescuer is not pushing down hard enough.

“Learn the basics of just chest compressions and save a life,” Boyd said.

School Nurse Performs CPR to Help Save Student’s Life

Linette Castro, a school nurse at Winfield Scott School No. 2 in New Jersey, had only been working at the campus for a few months when a student suffered cardiac arrest.

School nurse Linette Castro

During the morning of Oct. 24, 2023, Linette was in her office when the school’s security guard told her that her help was needed. As Linette walked out of the office, she saw principal Shante Rorie running towards her, yelling the name of the boy who needed medical attention. Linette immediately knew who the student was because she was aware that he had an underlying heart condition and wore a pacemaker.

Linette and Shante ran to the hallway where the boy was laying on his back on the floor. Linette rushed over to him. She checked for a pulse and also put her stethoscope on his chest. She didn’t hear a heartbeat. The boy’s pacemaker had failed.

Shante called the front office staff and asked them to call 911. Linette started CPR as  Shante went to go get the AED.

As Linette performed CPR, it dawned on her that she was the only nurse on site. She had spent most of her nursing career in a high-adrenaline neonatal ICU with a team of healthcare providers. But now she found herself responding to an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in a school environment where there was no back-up nurse.

“I knew in that moment – I had to stay calm,” Linette said. “How was everyone around me going to stay calm especially when everyone has not been in a life-or-death moment like this?”

Shante watched as Linette administered CPR to the student, who had turned blue. His mouth was open, and his eyes had rolled back into his head.

“She is working, and she is so focused,” Shante recalled. “She is working and not stopping.”

As Linette peeled off the stickers on the AED pads, the situation seemed surreal to her.

“I can’t believe I’m having  to do this and use an AED on a child,” she recalled thinking.

Linette said the AED advised a shock and after the shock was delivered, she resumed CPR. The fire department  soon arrived and transported the student to the hospital. Shante said a hospital official called her twice to commend Linette’s lifesaving actions.

“The head of the cardiac department, he called me the first day and said, ‘Listen I want you to know what she did was extraordinary because she saved him, “ Shante said. “He called me the next day because he was still awestruck.”

The student survived and recovered. When the boy returned to the school, it was a bittersweet moment for both Shante and Linette who each gave him a hug.

School nurse Linette Castro holding the AHA Heartsaver Hero Award and principal Shante Rorie

“Her and I are pretty emotional people, so we got choked up,” Linette said.

Before Linette joined the staff at Winfield Scott School No. 2, Shante said there was another school nurse who had been there for many years. Then, Linette was transferred to the campus, which Shante believes happened for a reason.

“This amazing person was able to stay calm and get all the tools she needed without even a moment of hesitation,” Shante said of Linette. “He was gone. He was no longer with us. And she saved his life. And we talk about the fact she wasn’t even our nurse, and she came to our building. And we think this was her purpose. She is living her purpose.”

Shante described Linette as a thorough, conscientious and kind person who goes above and beyond what her responsibilities are to make sure the health needs of students and staff are met.

“She has really transformed how medical care happens in our school,” Shante said. “We used to have tremendous, long lines for students coming in. She has streamlined that. She is able to have the kids come in, give them what they need, quickly assess  and keep the kids who really need attention.”

Veronica Valentine Frazier, Linette’s friend and peer, and Linette

In recognition of her lifesaving work, Veronica Valentine Frazier, Linette’s friend and peer, nominated her for the AHA Heartsaver Hero award.

“The way Linette reacted to the event and how she was able to perform CPR – she was the only one capable,” Veronica said. “She worked with the student for six minutes alone. That is extremely difficult. So the way she was quick to respond – she knew exactly what to do. She was able to delegate and try to explain to staff exactly what she needed.”

Linette received her Basic Life Support completion card from AHA. She said the steps for carrying out CPR that she received in AHA training crossed her mind when she responded to the out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

“Of course I remember the training – the didactic part of it, “ she said. “But mostly it was the actual maneuvers – I think the quality of your compressions – I knew I was giving good compressions. I never doubted that I was giving this child good compressions.”

Linette’s response to the cardiac emergency compelled Shante to become trained in CPR. It also motivated Veronica to establish a CPR training business that trains school district staff.

Linette said her message to other nurses about CPR is you never know when you’ll need to use the lifesaving skill.

“It’s an invaluable tool that you never know you’re going to need, whether it’s in the school setting or the supermarket,” Linette said. “Don’t take it for granted.”

Wife Performs CPR on Husband, Plays Vital Role In His Survival

By Gina Mayfield

On a typical fall Saturday in October of 2021, Blake and Ashley Burns settled into a routine not unfamiliar to many who call Alabama home. In advance of the University of Alabama football game, Ashley spent the first part of the day in the kitchen and, just around kickoff, offered her husband a slice of freshly baked tres leche cake. Blake decided to hold off due to what he believed was indigestion, then sat down in his favorite chair. Just as he pulled back the lever of his recliner, he became unresponsive.

On instinct, she jumped up and tried to get Blake out of his recliner. The AHA recommends providing chest compressions on a firm, flat surface when possible. Though Ashley was unable get Blake to the floor she started doing chest compressions right then and there. “I could see the color drain from his face. There was no oxygen. I asked him if he could hear me and got no response,” she says. Ashley kept doing chest compressions, then suddenly had a realization: Oh my goodness, I’m here by myself, I’m going to have to call 911 — something she later realized she should have done first.

Ashley & Blake Burns

She gave Blake two quick breaths, grabbed her phone, called 911 on speaker and swung open the front door for the EMTs. “Luckily, we live about half a mile from the fire department. I could hear them turn on the sirens on their way to our house,” Ashley says. Before she knew it, she had a house full of EMTs. Chest compressions commenced and a defibrilator was used. “When they shocked him, they couldn’t get a response, so they ended up having to shock him three times,” Ashley says. Still nothing.

“I got really nervous. I thought, This is not good. They’ve shocked him three times and he’s still not responding. That’s when they told me they were going to have to intubate him and start an IV,” Ashley says. Not long after, they loaded Blake into the ambulance and rushed him to the hospital. Ashley and Blake’s brother met them there.

“I’m going to be honest, we were actually scared to go in. I thought they were going to come out and say he didn’t make it,” Ashley says. Instead, a fireman found them and shared some good news: Blake was awake! Ashley went to see him and found a very active emergency room, as they prepared to put in a stent. Eventually, the doctor on duty had a special word for Ashley. “He told me over and over and over that had I not been there and done CPR when I did, Blake would not be alive,” she says.

After a stay in the hospital, Blake and Ashley returned home to a new normal. Blake quit smoking, eats better and checks his blood pressure twice a day. Both Ashley and Blake completed their CPR training.

Looking back, the warning signs were all there. “I will tell you this, he had every symptom of a heart attack a person can have in the days and weeks prior to this event,” Ashley says. There was jaw pain dismissed by an ENT as a potential sinus infection or possibly arthritis. Then the day before the heart attack Blake suddenly broke out in a sweat at a red light, then developed back pain between his shoulder blades later that night. The next morning came that indigestion, then the heart attack that led to cardiac arrest and Ashley’s life-saving CPR.

“Blake came back around though, he made it through, so that was good,” Ashley says. “I never thought I would have to do something like that at home, or on a family member. But you know, it goes to show, it happens.”

The AHA is committed to transforming a nation of bystanders into a Nation of Lifesavers. Join the movement that can make a difference in the life of someone’s partner, parent, friend, or family.

Woman Saves Best Friend Who Suffered Heart Attack, Cardiac Arrest

By Gina Mayfield

Julie (left) and Rhonda (right)

On a warm September evening, Rhonda Kuehn arrived at the home of her longtime friend, Julie, for a cookout to celebrate her birthday. Shortly after arriving, Rhonda realized the 46-year-old birthday girl was noticeably absent and asked about her. Julie’s husband casually mentioned Julie felt overheated and had started to experience some chest pains, and that she had stepped away to rest privately.

“I went and fixed my dinner plate, and then I said to myself, ‘Well, no, I’m going to go check on her,’” Rhonda says. She found Julie with a cold towel wrapped around her neck and a fan blowing on her. “I asked her what her symptoms were, input them into the WebMD app on my phone and the results came back as a high possibility of a heart attack,” Rhonda says. “So we got in the car and started heading toward the hospital.”  The American Heart Association recommends calling 911 for a suspected heart attack and does not recommend driving to the hospital.

On the way there, Rhonda tried to make lighthearted conversation, but it quickly became clear that Julie was in a lot of pain. “She had her phone in her hand and just dropped it, then she was leaning over, and I just shook her a little bit,” Rhonda says. “I said, ‘Jules, Julie…‘ No response whatsoever. Then I missed the turn to the hospital.”

Rhonda turned another corner into a residential area and called 911. The dispatcher told her she needed to start chest compressions right away and asked if she could get Julie out of the car, which wasn’t possible. “Then Julie’s lips started turning blue and she wasn’t breathing,” Rhonda says. “The dispatcher told me to go over and lay Julie’s seat as far back as I could, straddle her lap and start doing compressions. The dispatcher talked me through it, she kept encouraging me.”  Chest compressions should be done on a firm, flat surface when possible.

After missing that turn, Rhonda didn’t know what street she was on, so the dispatcher struggled to pinpoint a location for first responders. “I’m facing the street as I’m doing compressions, and I see the ambulance pass us by, then the fire engine,” Rhonda says. At that point she starts doing compressions with one hand and honking the horn with the other in an effort to get the attention of local residents. No help came.

Finally, a police officer spotted them and ran over to help get Julie on the ground and take over compressions. By this point, onlookers had started appearing on their front lawns and Rhon

Rhonda, first officer on the scene Cory Contreras, and Julie (left to right)

da asked them to flag down the ambulance at the street. EMTs arrived, used a defibrillator, and rushed Julie to the hospital where she spent days in intensive care and left with a device implanted in her heart that can be monitored. “They did all kinds of testing and found no reason for her to have a cardiac arrest,” Rhonda says. “It’s still a mystery.”

What’s not a mystery, is that Rhonda’s actions that day saved her friend’s life. Many years earlier she had taken a CPR class at a local community college in their hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska, and that experience came back to her right when she needed it.

In the days, weeks and months that followed, the thanks came pouring in from Julie and her friends and family, including a card from Julie’s sister. “She sent me a picture of her siblings and nieces and nephews and wrote, This is the family that thanks you for saving our sister,” says Rhonda, who’s quick to point out the others who helped too, including that 911 dispatcher. “She talked me through it and kept me from getting emotional,” Rhonda says. “Julie has thanked me over and over, but there’s appreciation that needs to go all the way around. It’s definitely not a one-person thing. It’s just a big team that made it possible.”

Julie and Rhonda got to meet that dispatcher in person, along with the local fire and rescue team, as well as the police officer who was first on the scene. Then one day a letter came in the mail from the Lincoln, Nebraska, police department. “When I first got it, I thought, Oh my goodness, what did I do?,” Rhonda says. But instead of a citation, it was an invitation – to a ceremony honoring citizens who had saved a life.

The AHA is committed to transforming a nation of bystanders into a Nation of Lifesavers. Join the movement that can make a difference in the life of someone’s partner, parent, friend, or family.

 

Family Tragedy Inspires Woman to Become CPR Instructor

Kathy and her sister the day before Genny passed.

By Gina Mayfield

On Saturday, July 3, 2021, Kathy Simpson and her sister, Genny, spent the day celebrating the upcoming Fourth of July holiday with family and friends. The next evening, the two sisters decided to spend a quiet evening in their pajamas, snacking on leftovers from the party and watching Netflix at Genny’s apartment. “There was no indication that anything was wrong. Absolutely nothing,” Kathy says.

Just as the movie ended, Genny got up and walked down the hall to the bathroom. Kathy heard a loud crash. “The next thing I knew I was running so fast and saying, ‘Are you okay?’” Kathy says. She was met with silence. “I think I jumped over the couch. I just got this really weird feeling that something tragic had happened,’” she says. “I opened the bathroom door and Genny’s on the floor. She was unresponsive.”

Kathy frantically banged on neighbors’ doors while screaming for help. “Nobody came. Nobody opened their door. I knew time was crucial,” she says, having remembered a CPR class she had taken decades earlier. She called 911 and started chest compressions. EMTs finally arrived at her door after what “seemed like forever.”

Paramedics told Kathy she had done a great job, then worked on Genny for 20 – 30 minutes, before transporting her to the hospital, where Kathy gathered with the same family she had been celebrating with just the day before. Hours later, hospital staff asked them to step into a small room where a doctor delivered the devastating news that Genny had not survived cardiac arrest. “I’m sure I was in shock, traumatized, everything you can think of,” Kathy says.

She grieved for more than a year then decided she had to do something to honor Genny, who was a certified nursing assistant and a veteran who lost her life on the Fourth of July. Right before her sister’s death, Kathy had relocated to the Atlanta area to be closer to family and grow a business chauffeuring her 65-year-old Rolls-Royce, which was built for Buckingham Palace. “But when my sister died, that fell behind, it was no longer a priority. Saving lives became my mission,” Kathy says.

She found the strength to walk into an American Heart Association Training Center in Acworth, Georgia, which teaches on-site CPR classes. At first, she thought about just taking a class, then decided to inquire about becoming an instructor. She met with the manager, submitted her resume, eventually earned the Basic Life Support Instructor Certification and joined the training center staff in October 2023 as a BLS faculty member.

From there, she did a deep dive into CPR instruction and realized there were almost 4,000 CPR instructors currently employed in the United States. “But when I got down to Blacks, and I realized only 7.3% of instructors were Black or African American, my mouth just fell. I thought that was totally impossible. There’s no way this number could be that low. That was so disappointing,” Kathy says.

She went on to learn that Black or Hispanic adults who experience a witnessed cardiac arrest outside the hospital are substantially less likely than their white peers to receive lifesaving care from a bystander. “That crushed me. That changed everything,” she says.

Kathy made up her mind to reach people right where they were – at home during the pandemic. Realizing that hundreds of thousands of people lived in apartment complexes, she started there. Management teams were more than happy to support her efforts to teach CPR.

Kathy ordered everything she needed – manikins, masks, an AED, DVDs, training books – and began to volunteer her time to provide free Hands-Only CPR demonstrations right there in the complex’s community center. Everyone can afford free and they knew where to go, so neighbors of all ages, from kids to adults, were invited to practice calling 911 and apply 30 compressions on manikins. Kathy even stocked a Life Savers candy dispenser so participants could enjoy a sweet treat once they completed their training. “They didn’t have to leave the comfort of their own home. I came to them,” Kathy says.

Today, she’s teaching and volunteering her time at the seemingly endless number of apartments around Kennesaw State University. “I do this in honor of my sister,” she says, noting she still carries Genny’s photo in her instructor binder as a reminder of the importance of learning CPR.

And so, the crusade continues. “My goals are to continue teaching at the RC Health Services, continue the Hands-Only CPR demonstrations in the community and train people of color to become a CPR instructor,” Kathy says. “Imagine one apartment building. Just think of how many of those there are all over the United States. If we can get out there and offer Hands-Only demonstrations and BLS/CPR training that will be beneficial in a life-saving event for the entire community, we can give all people an opportunity to do something instead of nothing.”