|
Co-workers saved Spotsy teacher's life
A Spotsylvania County middle school teacher survives sudden cardiac arrest, a condition that is almost always fatal.
By Karen Bolipata
Date published: 7/8/2008
By Karen Bolipata
For the first time in two months, Tina Johnson got behind the wheel of a car recently.
"It was heavenly," said Johnson, 55, a special education art teacher at Spotsylvania County's Ni River Middle School.
Johnson slept away much of the past two months. And if it weren't for the bandage on the left side of her chest, she wouldn't believe what happened May 1.
"I thought, 'Oh my God. It's real,'" she said. "Nothing really hit home 'til I saw it."
Johnson doesn't remember her co-teacher's call to the main office to dial 911. A seventh-grader had seen Johnson slumped at her desk and alerted the other teacher.
The substitute nurse and school principal rushed to the classroom, which had been cleared of students.
They performed CPR on Johnson and shocked her with an automated external defibrillator.
Eleven minutes passed.
Johnson, who had worn a pacemaker for more than a year, had suffered sudden cardiac arrest, a condition so fatal victims rarely survive it outside a hospital.
But Johnson woke up, surrounded by family and friends at Mary Washington Hospital. Everyone credits the school staff's quick thinking and the defibrillator located above the clinic door.
Weeks before, Johnson went through a series of tests that gave no indication this would happen.
"No warning," she said. "Absolutely no warning."
RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME
Virginia law requires at least two employees in school buildings with a staff of 10 or more to be trained in CPR. Ni River Principal Stephen Covert, who's CPR-certified, said he hopes Johnson's case will prompt others to get training.
Still, quick thinking and CPR alone wouldn't have saved Johnson. The defibrillator played a crucial role.
First installed in Spotsylvania high schools in 2004, defibrillators are now in every county school. In 2004, Spotsylvania Schools' Health Services Director Pat Smith won a $6,000 grant from the Mary Washington Hospital Foundation to start purchasing defibrillators for the schools. The School Board matched it.
"It gives you the power to save a life," Smith said.
Under sudden cardiac arrest, Johnson's heart stop-ped. The defibrillator shocked her heart back into normal rhythm.
Read more stories about Spotsylvania
Date published: 7/8/2008
Most recent reader comments:
Nice story.
(posted by
Getitright
, July 8, 2008 9:29 pm)
Sure am glad to read a happy ending. Nice job staff! That's a definite pat on the back for all.
Proper traing and execution saved her life. Not all policies are a waste of time. Alot of people played a roll in this saving of a life. Today you all deserve a big pat on the back.
|
