College police officer in Georgia helps save woman’s life
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GWINNETT COUNTY, GA (WGCL) — A Georgia Gwinnett College police officer put her training to use in a real life situation.
It happened when Sgt. Ashley Still was recently working out at a YMCA in Winder.
“One of the employees runs over to me and says, ‘there’s a lady who collapsed,'” Still told CBS46. “So I followed her over and when I saw the lady was on the ground, she displayed the classic signs of cardiac arrest, not conscious, not alert, not breathing, displaying agonal gasps, which is not normal breathing.”
Along with YMCA staff and a fellow officer who was also there, Still jumped into action performing CPR and using an automated external defibrillator, or AED. She said her training just took over.
“Went straight into CPR, the YMCA staff was fantastic, they had already started the emergency alert system, they were already working hooking her up to the AED, it worked flawlessly for us to work together as a great team,” said Still.
Still, a 2012 graduate of Georgia Gwinnett College, works in community outreach and crime prevent with the GGC Police Department. Part of her job includes training others in CPR. She had just trained her fellow officer the week before who was at the gym with her that day.
Still said the woman was at the pool watching her twin grandsons’ swim lessons when she collapsed. It turned out everyone was at the right place at the right time. The teamwork of everyone who worked to save her paid off. The woman was taken to the hospital to get treatment and recover.
The woman’s daughter and twin 20-month-old grandsons paid Sgt. Still a visit at work to say thank you.
“Hopefully this continues a friendship outside of this but to know that her mom’s doing great is awesome,” she said. “Just seeing that joy, I get it. I lost my dad to a cardiac-related event so I know the devastation, so to see the joy on the other end, it makes it worth it.”
Still is staying in touch with the family and even provided a walker donated by her friend for the woman to use when she is discharged from the hospital.
She encourages everyone to take CPR and “stop the bleed” classes in case you one day find yourself in a situation where you could help save a life.
She said, “Most places it’s free. We never expect to have to use it but we just don’t know where a cardiac event can occur.”
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