by Tom SirmonsWritten by Tom SirmonsUpdated November 2026 with current CPR and AED guidance. Leo Staudacher did not plan on watching the end of the Michigan-Notre Dame football game from a hospital bed. But after what happened in the second quarter, he was grateful to see the ending at all. On September 10, 2011, the 69-year-old Bay […]
by Tom SirmonsWritten by Tom SirmonsUpdated October 2026 with current CPR and AED guidance. When paramedics arrived at Sarah Zumwalt Middle School in Dallas, they found a teacher in cardiac arrest. His heart was in ventricular fibrillation, or VF, a dangerous rhythm that can cause the heart to stop pumping blood effectively. But something important had already […]
by Felicia QuinonesQuantity Over Quality? Not All CPR Classes Are the Same Written by Felicia QuinonesUpdated October 2026 with current Minnesota childcare CPR requirements. As a former daycare provider, I understand why childcare centers are proud to tell parents how many teachers are CPR and First Aid certified. When a parent tours a center and hears that […]
by Kaline ReineUpdated October 2026 with current American Heart Association and First Aid guidance. If you or someone near you may be having a heart attack, you may have only minutes to act. Some heart attacks are sudden and intense. Others begin more slowly with mild pain, pressure, shortness of breath, nausea, fatigue, or other symptoms that […]
by Carol TheisWritten by Carol TheisUpdated October 2026 with current CPR and AED guidance. Years ago, while watching a television program about a fatal diving case, one detail stood out. The husband was asked whether he had performed CPR on his wife and, if so, for how long. According to the program, he said he had performed […]
by Leonard TelfordUpdated October 2026 with current seizure First Aid guidance. A seizure can be frightening to witness, especially if you have never seen one before. A person may suddenly lose awareness, fall, stiffen, jerk, stare, or become confused. The most important thing a first aider can do is stay calm and focus on seizure First Aid. […]
by Tom SirmonsWritten by Tom SirmonsUpdated October 2026 with current CPR and AED guidance. A half-marathon is supposed to end with a finish line, a medal, and a deep breath. For one 40-year-old runner in San Jose, California, the real finish line became something else entirely. According to the original account, he was only about a tenth […]
by Tom SirmonsWritten by Tom SirmonsUpdated October 2026 with current drowning-resuscitation guidance. A day at the beach turned into a life-threatening emergency when a Chicago father and his 14-year-old daughter were caught in rough water off St. Joseph, Michigan. The daughter began struggling in waves reported to be several feet high. Her father, Fidel Chavez, went into […]
by Benjamin RousseyWritten by Benjamin RousseyUpdated October 2026 with additional details from the documented rescue and current CPR guidance. On the morning of November 25, 2011, an 89-year-old St. Petersburg man became trapped inside his burning home. Heavy fire had spread through the house. Smoke filled the rooms. Conditions were deteriorating rapidly. Inside was Charles “Luke” Davis. […]
by Tom SirmonsWritten by Tom SirmonsUpdated October 2026 with current pediatric CPR guidance. Sometimes the person who knows CPR happens to be in exactly the right place at exactly the right time. That is the lesson behind this older In-Pulse CPR story about Loraine Gray, a passerby who reportedly stopped to help when a 22-month-old girl became […]
by Tom SirmonsWritten by Tom SirmonsUpdated October 2026 with verified details and current CPR guidance. You are never too young to learn CPR. In May 2009, 15-year-old Sara Broski proved that in a very real way when a woman suddenly collapsed aboard a BART train in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sara had completed CPR training only […]
by Tom SirmonsWritten by Tom SirmonsUpdated October 2026 with verified details and current CPR and emergency-scene safety guidance. On February 28, 2011, Edward Johansen was driving along Route 140 in Norton, Massachusetts, when he witnessed a frightening crash. A vehicle struck a utility pole hard enough to bring down electrical wires. Inside was a driver who would […]
by Troy BowmanUpdated October 2026 with current school and BLS certification information. If you are an American Healthcare Institute student in the Tampa Bay area and need CPR or BLS certification for school, clinical training, employment, or another healthcare requirement, In-Pulse CPR offers hands-on American Heart Association BLS Provider classes throughout the Tampa Bay region. One important […]
by Tom SirmonsUpdated October 2026 with current CPR and AED guidance. A normal dinner out turned into a life-or-death emergency in Cayucos, California, when a 74-year-old man suddenly collapsed on a sidewalk. Nearby bystanders rushed to help. Then law enforcement arrived with an automated external defibrillator, or AED. The combination of bystander CPR and early AED use […]
by Carol TheisCPR Is for Someone Who Is Unresponsive and Not Breathing Normally Written by Carol TheisUpdated October 2026 with current American Heart Association CPR guidance. I once met a woman in a CPR class who told me she had never actually performed CPR, but she had almost done so. Naturally, I asked what happened. She explained […]