Florida School Resource Officer And Nurse Receive Praise For Saving High School Student’s Life

Sep 03, 2021 by apost team

Front line workers such as police officers, firefighters, doctors, nurses, and paramedics have been praised as heroes during the span of their careers, especially in more recent years. Whenever someone is in an emergency, they do their best to respond to the call and help as many people as they can. Their quick-thinking and bravery has helped save people from dangerous or troubling situations, and has even helped save lives. 

On Aug. 17, 2021, a student at Wharton High School in Tampa, Florida, was in a dire situation after he had collapsed. He struggled to find his breath, and his pulse was very weak. It was evident that he needed immediate care. After the school nurse heard about the incident, she immediately got a hold of the resource officer so they could work together and work fast at finding the student and providing him the care he desperately needed. They knew that it could have been a matter of life or death for the student. 

Urgently, both the nurse and resource deputy worked quickly and efficiently during the next few frantic minutes as they tried to help the high school student. Fortunately, their strong efforts paid off, and the student was able to get the help he needed. The frantic moment was all captured on bodycam from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, and has gone on to be seen by people all over the world. Many people have since sent their praise and gratitude to the nurse and resource deputy for their bravery and hard work. It’s clear these two are true heroes.

Their Life-Saving Efforts

Wharton High School nurse Alicia Robertson and resource deputy William Mellana knew they needed to act fast to help save a male student who had collapsed. Bodycam footage of the frantic moment was captured by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, showing the two heroes in action. In the video, Robertson was heard saying, “Take a breath baby! Take a breath baby! There we go.”

According to WFTS, Robertson had been crossing campus when she was told that a student had collapsed outside. “I turned him over and assessed him and realized that his pulse was weak and thready,” she said. Calling Mellana over, the two worked together to provide the student with immediate life-saving care. Mellana also called for backup, as per WFTS.

The resource deputy explained that although it looked like the student was breathing and his eyes were open, he actually wasn’t responding to the nurse’s chest sternum rubs, so they pulled out the AED. “The AED provided a shock and then it said CPR so we just did CPR until EMS arrived,” Mellana explained. WFTS reported that it was the first time both Robertson and Mellana had used AED at the high school. Since then, the student has been doing extremely well. “Yeah he’s back at school, he’s back at school like nothing happened,” Mellana confirmed.

Sheriff Chad Chronister spoke up about how this was a great example of how important training is for front line workers. “Deputy Mellana’s actions are a shining example of the heroism and composure under pressure that law enforcement officers must display every day,” he said. “We are incredibly grateful that the first aid training each of our deputies receives was able to help this young man make it back home to his family.”

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