Reedley High School staff save parent during heart attack

REEDLEY, Calif. (KFSN) -- An afternoon of watching baseball at Reedley High School turned into a literal heart-stopping event for one parent.

"Every second matters when it comes to CPR and cardiac arrest," said Victoria Yost, a certified athletic trainer at Reedley High.

Staff say when a man had a heart attack, everyone took action to try and save his life.

That includes Nick Underwood, who is the swim coach for Reedley High and is also a firefighter with the Fresno Fire Department.

"I identified myself as an off-duty firefighter, and ended up taking over chest compressions," recalled Underwood.

"We ended up ultimately shocking the patient and restarting his heart, and by the time we got him to the ambulance, he had a pulse back and we were just assisting with breathing at that point."

Underwood says he never expected his two worlds to collide.

"No, I was just super excited to actually be on the pool deck and to help someone, and was not expecting it to happen that day," said Underwood.

The school's brand new automated external defibrillator, or AED, that they were able to use on the patient within a matter of minutes, also made a difference.

"I had just received the one that was supposed to travel with me to different locations, or travel with me on my golf cart here at the high school, roughly two hours prior to the incident," said Yost.

Yost says it's a moment you always prepare for but hope to never have to put to use.

"We're trained for it. It's just that when it actually happens, it's kind of mind-blowing that we were there for him," said Yost.

Not only were they able to save the man's life, for Underwood, he was also able to get more potential future heroes.

"I have a handful on my team right now that are looking to become a firefighter in the future," said Underwood.

"It was great to be able to push forth that the basic CPR is important, and its one of the main roles in our job, so it was really good to be able to show that to them."

The parent is still in the hospital but he is recovering.

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