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School nurse called 'hero of the day' for life-saving actions
On National School Nurse Day, Creekview Middle School nurse Traci Huff became “the hero of the day” when she revived a student who was choking.
Huff was called to the cafeteria at lunchtime because a boy was choking. When she got there, a substitute teacher was performing the Heimlich maneuver on the sixth grader. The boy passed out, so Huff began chest compressions and told others to announce a Code AED over the intercom and call 911.
Meanwhile, staff members cleared students out of the cafeteria. Members of the crisis team grabbed the AED (automated external defibrillator), in case it was needed. Huff said the boy coughed and revived after a few chest compressions.
Paramedics arrived and took the boy to Cook Children's Hospital, where he was treated and later released.
Huff said it was the first time in her 19 years as a nurse that she needed to perform chest compressions at school. She's been campus nurse at Creekview for seven years and a district nurse for 10 years.
“You hope these things never happen, but that's what we're here to do,” she said.
Cheryl Phalen, coordinator of health services for the district, called Huff “the hero of the day” and “the best of the best.”
Huff leads all CPR instruction in the district. She instructs all other campus nurses on how to train others in CPR, “an instructor's instructor.”
The emergency at Creekview put the crisis team into action, and the members executed the plan like clockwork, Phalen said.
“This is a perfect example of why we do these drills,” she said.
Every campus in the district is a Heart Safe School with Project ADAM, Phalen said. That means that every school has an AED and staff members who are trained to respond quickly to cardiac emergencies with CPR and the device. School nurses lead those teams.
“Nurses in EMS ISD are ready to meet these emergencies with the utmost dedication and professionalism,” Phalan said. “And Traci is the hero of the day.”