A Phoenix high school student is being hailed as a hero, after helping save the life of a staff member who had collapsed on campus and had a heart attack.
Salim Mohamed, a junior at Metro Tech High School, had learned how to do CPR in health class. Last week during a workout on campus, Mohamed said two students entered the gymnasium and asked for help as a female staff member had fallen on the ground, unconscious.
Faculty member Ellen Driscoll, who was the witness to the incident called 911, while Mohamed, recalled his training from health class, and began chest compression. “They say her heart stopped so I started chest compressions,” he said.
Driscoll put the police dispatcher on speakerphone to guide Mohamed through CPR, which he performed for five minutes. His efforts paid off as the staff member regained consciousness and was taken to the local hospital.
Driscoll said the teen’s actions and level-headed response was inspiring. “No one asked him,” Driscoll said. “He just jumped in to help, and it was like an angel coming down because I was very afraid, and to have someone come in willing to help was magical, just amazing.”
Mohamed modestly brushed off the praise saying it was no big deal. “I’m just grateful I was there. It was nothing. I would do it for anybody,” he said.
Metro Tech Principal Bryan Reynoso wrote to parents to let them know about the incident, that a staff member suffered a seizure. It was confirmed by medics later that she had a heart attack. Mohamed hopes to meet the woman staff member after she has recovered and suggested everyone to have CPR training. “It’s just a normal thing,” he said. “Everybody should know how to do it. It was easy.”
Driscoll said that the staff member spoke to her on the phone from her hospital bed, saying she wanted to meet the young man who saved her life. if not for the timely CPR administered by Mohamed, only God knows what would have happened to her.