Principal, teachers’ efforts save life of 7th-grade athlete
APRIL 9, 2009 – Eisenhower Middle School Principal Jill Davis and four staff members are being credited with saving the life of seventh-grader Ty-Ray Thomas when he collapsed and stopped breathing during the first day of track practice Wednesday, April 9.
Thomas was running warm-up with another student along the school’s front drive at approximately 4:10 p.m. when Thomas fell to the pavement. The student’s mother and fire-rescue officials indicate that emergency medical aid provided by Eisenhower’s staff were critical in reviving Thomas.
Track coach Chana Hinkston, who is a security guard at Eisenhower full time, sent students to the office for help and stayed with Thomas. Mrs. Davis, the first to respond, began cardio-pulmonary resuscitation after she determined that Thomas wasn’t breathing and had no pulse. Physical education teacher Becky Smith ran to the gym entrance on the opposite side of the school and returned with an Automated External Defibrillator. Math teacher Dan Schroeder connected Thomas to the AED and administered shock treatments, while Mrs. Smith and Assistant Principal Christine Riemer assisted Mrs. Davis with CPR. Paramedics were able to re-establish a heart rhythm with Thomas in the ambulance en route to SwedishAmerican Hospital.
It was the first time Mrs. Davis performed CPR outside of training and the first time an AED has been used in a Rockford public school since the state began requiring them in 2006. SwedishAmerican, OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center and Rockford Health System donated $75,000 to buy 64 defibrillators for 52 schools.
“These staff members followed the protocols as they were taught, and that is the reason we can talk about this child today,” said Mary Fisher, Health Services Supervisor for Rockford schools.
Besides track, Thomas has played football and basketball at Eisenhower. The school’s psychologist, counselors and a social worker met today with the track team as a group and with students individually.
“We talked about how things happen for a reason, and that Ty-Ray was in the right place at the right time with people who knew how to take care of him,” Mrs. Davis said. |
