When Student Collapses Into Cardiac Arrest at School, Nurse and Resource Deputy Race to Save His Life
On Aug. 17, at around 3 p.m., a student at Wharton High School in Tampa, Florida, collapsed. He appeared to be breathing — but in all reality, he was experiencing cardiac arrest. School nurse Alicia Robertson was…
On Aug. 17, at around 3 p.m., a student at Wharton High School in Tampa, Florida, collapsed. He appeared to be breathing — but in all reality, he was experiencing cardiac arrest.
School nurse Alicia Robertson was walking across campus when a call came in that a student had collapsed. She immediately ran to him and started checking him out.
“I turned him over and assessed him and, and realized that his pulse was weak and thready,” she said, according to KKTV-TV.
School Resource Deputy William Mellana joined Robertson after calling for more backup. They were giving the student CPR, but they knew, based on his condition, he was going to need more than that.
“He had what I was trained as agonal breathing, so it looked like he was breathing, it looked like his eyes were open, it would appear like he was responding to the nurse’s, you know, chest sternum rubs, but the reality is he wasn’t,” Mellana later explained.
“He was out. He was done. And that’s what the (automated external defibrillator) told us.”
They used the AED — the first time either hero had used the school’s device — and continued CPR. While it lasted only minutes until EMS got there, Mellana said “it felt like an eternity.”