HUDSON, NC (September 21, 2016)…Bethany Morgan is a first year Cardiovascular Sonography student at Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute. As part of her studies, she was required to take a Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) class to learn the lifesaving techniques useful in many emergencies, including heart attack or near drowning, in which someone’s breathing or heartbeat has stopped. Morgan didn’t realize that just a few days later, she would be in a situation that necessitated using the skills she learned in the class.
Morgan, who is originally from Savannah, Ga. and now lives in Boone, took the class in July at CCC&TI’s TAPS Center in Hudson. She says that from the very beginning of the class, she knew this one would be different from others she had taken in the past. “The CPR class at CCC&TI was different because the instructors made it fun. “They used things like the beat of the song to help us remember the speed of compressions you make on the chest,” she said. “And they repeated everything so many times you couldn’t help but remember it.” She said that the small class sizes also allowed her instructors to be more hands-on and work with students one-on-one to teach them the proper techniques.
Morgan completed the class on a Wednesday and on Saturday was attending a family gathering in Mountain City, Tenn. that ended up being the first real-world test of the skills she had learned that week. Morgan says that the temperatures that day were high and that her brother had been sitting in the sun for quite some time. When he got up to move inside, he collapsed. Morgan says that she and her husband both attempted to find a pulse and when they could not, her training kicked in and she started the CPR techniques that she had just learned a few days before at CCC&TI. “I yelled for my sister to call 911 and told my mother and daughter to get some ice packs together. I began chest compressions and he started coming around but soon after he was out again,” she says. “I gave some more chest compressions and one breath. Then he started talking. What a relief! By the time EMS arrived he was sitting on the couch eating brownies. The paramedic said he probably had a heat stroke.” Morgan says that she was the only one there that day that knew CPR. “If I had not taken that class, I think my reaction wouldn’t have been so immediate and I would not have been as confident in what I was doing.”
Morgan hopes to earn her Associate Degree in Cardiovascular Sonograhy at CCC&TI and find employment close to her home in Boone. Eventually, she hopes to work for an organization that will allow her to travel. She says that no matter where her career takes her, she’ll always have to be certified to perform CPR and that she knows where she’ll be taking the class in the future, as well. “I would highly recommend this CPR class to anyone that needs it or just wants to take it so they know how to administer CPR. My mother is probably going to take it in the near future,” she says. “I just want to thank my instructors for making their class so enjoyable and easy. I remembered pretty much everything they said, when I needed it most.”
For more information on CPR training at CCC&TI contact 828-726-2242 (Caldwell), 828-297-3811 (Watauga) or visit www.cccti.edu.