SALT LAKE CITY – EMT students and instructors got a real life lesson in CPR Friday when a driver crashed right outside their school.
The accident happened just before noon, right across the street from the Utah Medical Training Council at 450 South and 900 East. The 55-year-old driver wasn't breathing and didn't have a pulse when staff from the school got to him.
“We had to break the window because the door was locked,” says EMT instructor Meghan Cox. “We pulled him out. We had to start chest compressions.”
Cox says they teach hundreds of students every week how to do CPR, but it was the first time she’d ever had to do it on a real person. Co-worker Tyler Budd arrived shortly after and says it was tense as the staff worked to revive the man.
“ I've worked on several of these cardiac calls,” says Budd. “This one, working with a co-worker, is by far the most exciting.”
The school staff resuscitated the driver by the time medics arrived. He was transported to a local hospital in critical condition.
Police say it appears the man had a medical episode that caused him to crash. He hit two parked cars, but no one else was injured.
