November 8, 1999
CPR training saves a life
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| Susan Willats Photo: Francine Tyler |
Willats was working at Natural Sciences 2 in July when a fellow Business and Administrative Services staff member ran into her office and asked if she knew CPR. A Summer Session student, who wishes to remain anonymous, had collapsed in a nearby hallway. The young woman's classmates were standing nearby, not knowing what to do.
"It was such an unreal situation," Willats recalled. "I'd taken several CPR classes and had never been called upon to use any of that information. I was amazingly calm, maybe because the situation felt so unreal."
The student's heart was beating, but she had stopped breathing. When Willats opened the victim's airway and began mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, the woman's lungs responded, "like they suddenly remembered what they should be doing," Willats said.
When the young woman stopped breathing for a second time, Willats resuscitated her again.
It wasn't until paramedics took the student away on a gurney that Willats felt the impact of what had happened. "That's when I got shaky," she said.
Willats--whose office was moved into Natural Sciences 2 just the week before--was thankful she'd had CPR training. "You're not given the opportunity very often to make such an incredible difference in someone's life," she said.
Willats had taken a CPR class through the UCSC Fire Department in 1987 and a refresher course in 1989. Four years ago, she had also participated in a pediatric CPR course at Dominican Hospital.
She encourages others to take CPR. "You never know what you're going to find around the next corner."
CPR classes are available locally from the American Red Cross at (831) 462-2881 and at Dominican Hospital at (831) 462-7709. The American Red Cross also offers courses in first aid.
A limited number of classes are also offered by the UCSC Fire Department. Call (831) 459-3473 for more information or go to www2.ucsc.edu/fire_dept/.
