Lisa Meyer needed one more credit to graduate, so she enrolled in a CPR class in January.
“They told us that we might not ever get to use it,” said the senior biology major.
But when a man collapsed in the fitness room of the Sullivan Gym last week, Meyer’s skills were tested as she and a handful of complete strangers tried to save a life.
A member of USM’s Lifeline GAP program, Peter Johnson, 63, walked into the Sullivan Gym around noon last Monday.
“He had been coming here for years,” said Sullivan Gym Manager Jenny Nelson. “Everybody knew him.”
Apparently, Johnson had just started a treadmill when he collapsed.
Meyer, who was working out when it happened, reacted immediately.
“The first thing I did was run and tell the person in the equipment room to call an ambulance,” she said. “Then I ran back in and we saw he wasn’t breathing.”
Johnson had suffered a major heart attack.
Graduate student Steven Petrin, who hadn’t been in the gym in over a year, decided to work out that day instead of going for a walk. He works in the intensive care unit at Southern Maine Medical Center. Just as Petrin reached the door to the fitness room, he heard someone call for help.
“At first I hoped it was just somebody passed out,” he said. “But when I saw him I knew I had seen that look before. I knew it was serious.”
Having experience in CPR and emergency situations, Petrin took a leadership role immediately. He started chest compressions and told Lisa to begin mouth-to-mouth.
Other students helped move equipment out of the way, while Meyer and Petrin continued CPR.
“I didn’t know their names,” said Meyer of the other students there that day. “But they were there to do anything they possibly could to help. We were complete strangers who didn’t even know this man.”
Because it was Patriot’s Day, there were few University employees in the gym that day. A staff me mber who was there commended the students for their willingness to help in the crisis.
“That’s a difficult thing to do under pressure. Sometimes people can freeze,” said Wendy Benson-Sargent, administrative assistant for the Sullivan Gym. “It was a caring, concerned group of people who jumped to the call of duty to help this man.”
Sargent estimates about 20 minutes passed before the emergency personnel arrived and rushed Johnson to the hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly thereafter.
Petrin commended the paramedics for the way they handled the situation.
“They didn’t just barge in and push us aside, they took over cautiously with patience,” he said. “It was a team effort.”
Meyer said that throughout the experience the students were very supportive of each other.
“In the midst of this crisis, he [Petrin] was telling me I was doing a good job,” said Meyer. “Everybody was so nice afterwards.”
“I could see in their eyes they were frightened, as I was, ” said Petrin. “Words of encouragement in a situation like that can pull people together.”
Meyer said she was overwhelmed after the experience.
“At the time you’re thinking `what did I just do?'” she said. “I just put my breath inside another human being to try to give him life. I took a long walk and tried to absorb it all.”
That day, University officials immediately made arrangements with University Health and Counseling Services to offer counseling for students who were there.
“People who were in the room find themselves pretty personally affected, even if they didn’t know him [Johnson] or his name,” said Andrea Thompson McCall, assistant to the vice president for Student Development for Chaplaincy and Interfaith Programs and Services. “We all know that people die every day, but when it happens near us, it stops us in our tracks. It’s overwhelming.”
McCall also said that experiences like this one can really bring people together.
“Students stepped forward without being asked,” she said. “People who had never seen each other before worked as a team. They came to the aid of the man and really did everything that could be done.”
Meyer said she feels a special connection to all the other people in the room that day.
“We’re people who have no connection to the family, but we have a connection to each other,” she said. “We’re students. We’re still here. We’re living on.”
Meyer and Petrin wanted to express condolences to Johnson’s family. They both said they felt a connection to the man, even though he was a complete stranger.
“I don’t even have a clue of who he was,” said Petrin. “But I feel like I bonded with him.”
Students who experienced the incident are encouraged to contact University Counseling Services at 780-4050 or Andrea Thompson McCall at Interfaith Services at 228-8284.
News Editor Steve Peoples can be contacted at: [email protected]