HIALEAH, Fla. – A group of South Florida teachers are being hailed as heroes for helping to save a young boy’s life.
They had just been trained with critical, life-saving techniques when there was a sudden emergency.
It happened Friday at Joella C. Good Elementary School in Hialeah.
A 9-year-old boy collapsed near the top of the stairs.
“There is no time to think — overthink — there’s no time to just process. It’s, do,” said school staff member Jorge Parra.
It’s what they’d been training for.
In fact, their school was among the last in the Miami-Dade school district to be certified Heart Safe by Project Adam — the program that trains staffers on how to respond to sudden cardiac arrest.
“Time is of the essence,” said Melissa Olen, director of Project Adam at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital. “The earlier you can activate a team to respond, support that cardiac output with compressions, and bring that AED to the victim.”
Parra attached the defibrillator to the student.
“On top of the right side of the pec, and on the left side of the rib cage,” he said. “When that first discharge happens, it’s just a giant gasp for air.”
Local 10 News was told it only took one shock for that student to be revived.
The student — who had a pre-existing heart condition — underwent a procedure on Tuesday and is recovering in the hospital.
In fact, he’s already sent his teachers photos from the hospital and drawn them a picture of them coming to his rescue.