A high school senior helped save his friend’s father’s life thanks to a CPR program he learned at school.
Juan Carlos, also known as JC, a student at Archbishop McCarthy High School, didn’t miss a beat when he had to turn knowledge into action.
When hanging out at his friend’s home over Labor Day weekend, he heard shrieks.
“My friend’s mom started screaming, saying, ‘Someone call 911!’ Her husband was lying on the floor face down, and after a few seconds I turned him over, he was unconscious. I checked for his pulse, his breathing ... and immediately started doing CPR,” JC recalled.
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The teen continued compressions until an ambulance came and brought his friend’s father to the hospital.
“Two minutes feel like forever when you are doing CPR,” he said.
The senior said those lifesaving skills are all thanks to his EMT class, where he has been learning CPR for the last three weeks.
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“I wouldn’t know how to do CPR if it weren't for this course,” JC said.
The EMT course is being offered for the first time at the high school through Barry University, and 28 students are signed up.
“He did very well in class and was able to do this in a very difficult situation in real life,” Mike Sica, his teacher, said. “To be able to teach a class and then weeks later for them to be able to put it to practical use and save someone is a great feeling.”
JC said he hopes his experience encourages more students to sign up in the future.
“I 1000% think that everyone should learn CPR because unfortunately, stuff like this, cardiac arrest, happens,” the student said.
His friend’s father is still in the hospital but is expected to make a full recovery the family says is no doubt thanks to JC.
