The school day was ending on a typical day in October 2022. Students and faculty alike eagerly awaited the dismissal bell and the ensuing exodus to their homes in and around Levittown, NY. Brian Maloney, a high school physical education teacher, and Dr. Thomas Turchiano, a school psychologist, were gathering their belongings when they heard a concerning announcement come over the intercom: Help was needed immediately. A student had collapsed in the girl’s locker room.
Brian recalled, “We’re on the emergency response team, and my role is to get the AED [Automated External Defibrillator]. I had my jacket on, ready to walk out the door. I was like ‘oh shoot’, because 90% of the time it’s nothing – some teacher overreacted. But we went there, and when I got into the locker room, I heard the yelling.”
“[When] we got there, Brian got the AED and the nurses were trying to treat her,” added Thomas, another member of the emergency response team. “And I said ‘hey, we should put the AED on.’ We put it on, and it said, ‘shock advised’ and then it said, ‘start the compressions.’”
Working as a team, alongside two school nurses who were first to arrive in the locker room, they performed one round of CPR and utilized the AED.
Thomas and Brian had been preparing for this moment for decades — even though they had never before needed to perform lifesaving CPR and defibrillation in their many years of training.
Thomas is trained in American Red Cross Lifeguarding with CPR/AED For the Professional Rescuer, First Aid, and Waterfront Skills. He has been a lifeguard instructor since 2005, although an injured shoulder two years ago has sidelined him. He received his first certification as a lifeguard after graduate school, completing a Red Cross program at the Huntington YMCA. As he looked for a full-time job in the school system, he took his Doctor of Psychology and decided to become a lifeguard instructor in the Town of Huntington.
“I called the American Red Cross and I said, ‘I want to become a lifeguard instructor – how do I do it,’” he recounted. “I went out to Coram, that was the only place [at the time], and I got the books. Then I got the certifications and taught my first class. I had the job for 20 more years.”
Brian, who is trained in American Red Cross Adult and Child Basic First Aid/CPR/AED, also received his lifeguard training in the early 1990s. He teaches a class about responding to emergencies. The class is one semester long and has grown to four sections, and students who complete the class receive their Responding to Emergencies certification from the Red Cross.
“I got certified here actually, I think in this room,” Brian reminisced while standing in the Red Cross Headquarters in Mineola. “I got it to help certify coaches, and then a couple years later, I brought it to the school’s attention to run it as an elective, and they approved it. [The class has] been running close to 15 years.”
For their heroic efforts, Brian and Thomas both received the Lifesaving Award for Professional Responders. This is the highest award given by the Red Cross to an individual or team of individuals who saves or sustains a life by using skills and knowledge learned in an American Red Cross Training Services course.
After one round of CPR and with the help of the AED, and with the continued care provided by the two school nurses, the young woman’s heartbeat returned, and she became responsive. Care was transferred over to the Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) who arrived on the scene, and the student was transported to a local hospital. She has since graduated from high school and is attending college.
“Accidents and emergencies can happen to anyone, anytime,” said Jose Dominguez, CEO for the American Red Cross on Long Island. “That’s why it is so important to be like Brian and Thomas and get trained on first aid, CPR, and how to use an AED so you can act in an emergency. Because of their lifesaving actions, a young woman survived an emergency and I think that is an incredible gift.”
Every day, the Red Cross empowers thousands of people with skills, training and information to save lives in a health or safety emergency. Every second counts in an emergency, so people need to know what to do until medical help arrives. Train for the moments that matter. Visit redcross.org/takeaclass to register for a course today.
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