Crystal Lake High School Student Saves Life Using CPR
A quick-thinking suburban teen saved a man's life one recent Sunday afternoon while running errands for her parents.
We've all heard for years that we should take a CPR certification course, because you never know when that skill-set could save someone's life.
Calista Pollack, a student at Prairie Ridge High School in Crystal Lake, is living proof of that, and so is the man she saved using CPR.
Calista drove her younger brother to a house to get a form signed and decided to wait in her car. All of the sudden, Pollack's brother called for help. The teen walked into the house to find an older man on the ground -- unresponsive. The man's wife had 911 on the line, and handed the phone to Pollack.
"The dispatcher just told me to start doing compressions, so I did that for about three minutes, and he counted for me," the teen recounted.
The task wasn't an easy one - especially for someone who had recently broken her leg. On top of that, Pollack only learned CPR only one year earlier.
"I immediately though of her knee and how did you do what you needed to do in those circumstances," said teacher and coach Tim Taege. "But knowing Calista, it doesn't surprise me at all."
Thanks to Pollack, the man survived and was said to be doing well.
"I’m just grateful that I knew what to do in that moment," she said.
If you've ever had an interest in learning CPR, here are a couple of links to get you started:
This sort of situation happens far more than you might think:
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