Jeff Crew acted when an 18-year old Ajethan Ramachandranathan collapsed in the middle of class.
A west-end gym teacher and his assistant were given recognition for saving the life of a grade 12 student after using a defibrillator to revive the teenager who ceased to breathe.
Quick action saves a life
According to Jeff Crewe, he was standing at the doorway. The other students in the class shouted and he ran over to the student and looked at him. The student was gasping. His eyes were rolling back a bit.
At that point, Crewe administered a shock to the 18-year old and continued with the chest compression until the young man started to gasp for breath. After a few minutes, the paramedics arrived and took over.
Even though all secondary schools in the Toronto District School Board and some elementary schools have defibrillators installed, it is rare for the devices to be used. In the past years, there were 2 similar incidents according to a spokeswoman.
According to Crewe, they train quite regularly but to utilize it in an actual setting was different. The experience was “stressful” but once the condition of the student stabilized, we felt better.
At the time when Ramachandranathan collapsed who had no known lung or heart conditions, he chatted with a student after doing some light activity according to principal Deborah Blair.
Ramachandranathan stayed in a healthcare facility awaiting transfer to Toronto General to under tests to discover the root cause of the collapse. The family was shocked by the incident but grateful for the rapid response of the staff.
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LEARN MORE
Learn how to help by enrolling in a CPR training course and for more information, check out these sources:
Mayo Clinic: Comprehensive First Aid Resources
https://www.healthline.com/health/first-aid/cpr#steps-for-hands–only-cpr