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Student's bravery and action saves life of infant

Student uses CPR skills he learned at school to save a life.

Abraham Hernandez, a student at one.Lodi, was recognized by the San Joaquin County Board of Education on April 16 for providing assistance to a family in trouble, ultimately saving the life of an infant.  He was honored for his act of courage and action.

On March 19, Abraham Hernandez was in Stockton looking for a car for his friend at used car lots.  At an intersection, they saw a car pulled to the side of the road and the driver was out of the car trying to wave down other motorists.  

Abraham's friend pulled over to see what was wrong.  Abraham and a couple other guys got out of the car and asked the driver what was wrong and he responded, "My baby is having a seizure."  There was a woman in the back seat holding the baby and Abraham and his friends observed the baby shaking.

Abraham’s friend called 911. The dispatcher was explaining that help was on the way, but the mother was frantic and asked Abraham’s friend to drive them to the hospital, with the father following behind.

At a stop light, suddenly, the woman cried out, "my baby stopped breathing!"  Abraham noticed that the baby's lips were turning purple.  He informed the woman that he was trained in CPR – he received his CPR certification at school.

Abraham quickly leapt into action, remembering what he learned from his CPR course. He spread the baby blanket on the ground and told the mother he was going to do 30 chest compressions and then she needed to cover his mouth and nose with her mouth and give him two breaths.  He reminded her that the breaths had to be small because he didn’t have “big boy lungs” yet.

After the fourth set of compressions, the baby began to cry.  The woman took the baby back and after a few minutes he stopped breathing again so they resumed compressions. Paramedics then arrived on the scene and took over.

Abraham received his CPR training through the American Red Cross and Corie Estes, SJCOE one.Program nurse, funded through a mini grant from Pacific Gas and Electric Company. This is the second year that the program has been funded, resulting in 107 students trained.

Thanks to Abraham’s bravery and quick response, the dedication of school nurses like Corie Estes, and funding through Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a situation that could have turned deadly had a happy ending.

Posted: 4/16/2014