College EMS team saves two lives in six months
By Hatzel Vela
Stephen Brown says he is lucky to be around.
He is also lucky students properly trained in CPR were around when he collapsed at the College of Charleston library in November 2009.
Shortly after collapsing, Brown stopped breathing.
Brown, 19, suffers from Long QT Syndrome, a rare heart condition.
"Pretty fortunate that somebody in that library knew what they were doing," Brown said.
Andrew London wasn't really mentally prepared for what he did.
London was the person to provide Brown with CPR.
London was able to perform CPR on Brown for about five minutes until another rescue team showed up.
It was the first time London performed CPR on a real person.
He first learned CPR in grade school and had taken a refresher course recently during a camp.
He never thought he would use his skills.
"It was pretty scary seeing him just completely cold. To think that he was able to come back out of that was very surprising," London said.
The EMS team who arrived shortly after London was part of the College of Charleston Fire and EMS student team.
"Travis started compressions. I was working on the airway and Zach was doing the AD," said Mike Bisnett, a sophomore who recently joined the EMS team.
London, who is not part of the team, was recognized along with Bisnett and Travis Snyder for their life-saving work at the group's officer induction and awards ceremony.
For 15 years, the College of Charleston Fire and EMS has been running around campus providing medical care for free.
Bisnett said he can "do this full time and still be a full time student where I'm not having to sacrifice one or the other."
The College of Charleston Fire and EMS is also responsible for saving a man, who had a heart attack during this year's Cooper River Bridge Run.
Steve Aceto, said he has recovered but is still sore.
Aceto told the group by way of a letter, "I am truly grateful to God for each one of you."
Brown feels grateful as well.
He survived an induced comma so his organs could be saved.
"If he didn't start CPR right away I'd be a vegetable technically. They said the immediate oxygen to the rain was what saved me," Brown said.