Things were going well at the Liberty Union Thurston Middle School fifth and sixth-grade dance. Students were dancing in the cafeteria, getting their pictures taken in the hallway, and enjoying the company of their friends. Principal Tim Turner was just outside the cafeteria in the hallway when a group of students approached him in a panic, saying that a friend of theirs had passed out. Turner raced into the cafeteria to find the girl lying down unconscious next to a bench.
“When I first turned her over, I thought she was having a seizure,” Turner said.
Fortunately, Patricia Hendershot, a pediatric critical care nurse and chaperone at the dance, was nearby and overheard the commotion. She rushed in to help, knowing that her skills might be needed.
“I just remember thinking, holy crap, I can’t believe this is happening here,” Hendershot said. “You know, she’s a fifth grader. It was their first middle school dance. It was chaotic all around. There were kids still dancing when I first got up to her.”
Hendershot and Turner examined the 10-year-old girl, who didn’t have any known pre-existing conditions and didn’t appear to have hit her head. They checked her pulse and found it was very faint.
“My instincts were telling me that she was not okay,” Hendershot said. “At the same time, it was super scary. And I remember at one point I was just like, you gotta trust your gut.”
Hendershot instructed a nearby teacher to turn the lights up and turn the music down while another teacher called 911. When the lights came on, Hendershot noticed that the student looked pale and blue and that her pulse had become even more thready. She instructed Turner to retrieve the school’s automated external defibrillator (AED) and immediately began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on the girl.
It’s important to have an AED, but it’s also good to have the training so you’re ready to go.
—Tim Turner, school principal
“I remember thinking, okay, this is happening,” Hendershot recalled. “Like, oh my gosh, you know, freaking out in my head. But I knew what to do. So I started compressions while I waited for the AED.”
The AED confirmed what Hendershot suspected: The girl was suffering from sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). Hendershot administered one shock as instructed by the AED and performed 25 more compressions until the first responders arrived to stabilize the girl. To Turner and Hendershot, the incident felt like an eternity, but footage would later confirm that it lasted only seven minutes.
Kayla Booth, the girl’s mother, was soon alerted to the situation. “I was in a state of shock and disbelief,” she said. “I thought it was a joke or a dream.” The girl was taken to Nationwide Children’s Hospital, where she received further treatment and had an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) surgically implanted.
“The first few days were scary, she definitely wasn’t herself,” Booth said. “Severe short-term memory loss, extremely fatigued, and just disoriented. It got better as the days passed, and now she seems 100% herself.”
Reflecting on the experience, Hendershot stresses the importance of seeking help to process the experience. “I didn’t sleep hardly at all that whole weekend. I just kept replaying everything over and over in my mind … I would highly encourage people who go through an event like this, who act as a bystander and give CPR, to talk to somebody after. I think debriefing is important even in a positive outcome.”
Turner later recalled: “What they said probably saved her more than anything was the quick response. With no CPR or the AED, the cardiac pediatrician said her chances of survival were nearly zero.”
As a result of this event, the school’s PTO as well as several local Scouting America groups, church communities, and other local organizations have been trained on CPR and the use of AEDs.
“It’s important to have an AED, but it’s also good to have the training so you’re ready to go,” Turner said. “It’s like riding a bike: Once you learn how to ride, it’s fine, but it’s good to try it every so often to make sure you know what you’re doing.”