Lakeland Staff Help save Another Life
For the second time in a month, quick actions by Lakeland School District staff helped save an individual who collapsed on school grounds in sudden cardiac arrest.
The most recent life-saving event took place on May 1 at Lakeland High School, where a male spectator headed to a junior varsity softball game collapsed outside the fence surrounding the school’s all-purpose field where a girls lacrosse game was about to begin.
Lakeland field monitor, MaryLu Fiori, saw the unidentified man go down and immediately sounded the alert. An assistant coach with the visiting John Jay High School JV team grabbed the portable automated external defibrillator (AED) they had brought to the game and sprinted across the field. At the same time, Lakeland Athletic Trainer, Amanda Tiffany, picked up the AED at the high school and raced to the scene, where she found the man not breathing and with no pulse. Tiffany administered the AED and chest compressions.
Meanwhile, Yorktown Police Officer Larry Paniccia, the school’s resource officer, called 911 and joined in the efforts to revive the victim. Mohegan Lake Ambulance Corps personnel arrived shortly after and transported the man to WestchesterMedicalCenter, where he was reported to be doing well and appreciative of those who helped save his life.
Since 2002, school districts in New York State are required to have AEDs on site. AEDs are available at all school interscholastic sports events and coaches and other district personnel, including nurses, are trained on how to use them.
On April 1, several staff members at Lakeland Copper Beech Middle School helped save the life of a teacher’s aide who collapsed in an eighth grade classroom.
Eighth grade science teacher, Jasper Fox, was the first to respond to a plea of help from a student and administered CPR to staff member Janice Mills. School Nurse Pat Schurr and School Resource Officer Angel Garcia then took over the CPR and used the AED.
“It seems surreal that it happened, but it’s truly a family here,” said Mills, who has since recovered. “There is so much love and compassion and friendship here.”
More than a dozen Copper Beech staff members were recognized at the April 18 Lakeland Board of Education meeting for their heroic actions.
“Everyone did a spectacular job,” Schurr said.
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/