WAYNESBORO, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - A janitor, set to retire, had an emergency at a Burke County middle school.
Before EMS arrived, a team of teachers jumped in to help save his life. We reached out to the janitor, and he doesn’t want to go on camera.
We spoke to one of the teachers about a training program that paid off.
At Burke County Middle, they train for this.
“You never know when something like this can happen,” said Tiffany Neidlinger, school nurse.
The school has a team trained to respond to cardiac emergencies.
They do at least two drills a year, but this was no drill.
Jeremy Brown, special education teacher said: “I kind of noticed some commotion, a few people running down the halls.”
Sheri Stephens noticed a staff member in trouble.
“I was in my room, and I heard the alarm go off, and I knew it wasn’t a drill because we just had a drill two days earlier,” said Stephens, teacher.
Stephens noticed a staff member in trouble. She saw one of the school’s janitors of more than 20 years on the ground.
“He had no breathing and no pulse. Everything was blocked out,” she said.
Brown said: “You’re there on the scene, and you do what you’re trained to do.”
They say they gave him two shocks, and he started breathing again before EMS arrived. The school district says the janitor is home and well.
“He was thanking us before he even went to the hospital. He was on the stretcher saying thank you, thank you,” said Stephens.
This happened on the day of his retirement party, and his coworkers gave him the biggest retirement gift of all.
“We are very thankful. He’s very important to us,” she said.
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