A witness named Tiffany Jefkins is experienced in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation but has never tried to save a life outside of a hospital. An incident happened last spring where she was a witness to a van attack. The incident happened at Yonge Street and Finch Avenue. There were 10 people dead. A student at the University of Toronto was also found dead and some were injured.
Saving a life
Jefkins recalled before the incident happened, they were picnicking together with her 10-month-old daughter, named Eleanor and a friend at Mel Lastman Square. They saw a white van coming from a curve near Yonge Street about 20 meters away. The van hit four people in the sidewalk, then turned and continued speeding on the street.
According to Jefkins, she describes it as chaos. People are screaming, running. No cameras and phones are out. Jefkins immediately buckled her daughter into her stroller. She asked her friend to watch over Eleanor. She immediately runs towards the victims and provided first aid and CPR. She paid attention to a victim with his face lying down on a grate. Another bystander treated other victims.
She checked the victim close to her for a pulse, but there was none. She immediately provided chest compressions on the victim at the same time coaching another bystander who was applying pressure on the injuries of the other victims.
A crowd of about 40 people stood crying and screaming. I saw a woman calling emergency numbers.
I looked up at the crowd of people and identify someone who might be able to help. She recruited a volunteer from the crowd and they went to a third victim about several feet away from Yonge.
She instructed the volunteer to perform CPR on the victim. She taught other bystanders on how to provide CPR on the fourth victim. Eventually, first responders arrived in the area and continued providing first aid and CPR to other victims. The injured victims were immediately brought to the hospital for further treatment. According to Jefkins, of the four victims they provided first aid and CPR, only one was revived.
A journalist named Tim Alamenciak describes the actions of Jefkins as a story of courage and strength and shows that the remedy for hatred is helping.
After the incident, according to Jefkins, she needs counseling to deal with the trauma. She has difficulty sleeping and her thoughts are on the incident that happened in Yonge Street.
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LEARN MORE
Learn how to help by enrolling in a first aid and CPR course and for more information, check out these sources: