Five students from Mesa sprang to action when they saw a woman seizing on the beach in Hilton Head, South Carolina.
Mikayla Freeman and her four classmates are all studying to be physician assistants at A.T. Still in Mesa. They were finishing up their final months of training in a hospital in Georgia when they decided to take a weekend break to Hilton Head.
Just 20 minutes after they got to the beach, a young woman in her 20s started seizing and lost her pulse.
“One of my friends said, 'I think this girl’s having a seizure.' So we all ran over there and got her turned on her side and she was not looking good at all,” said Mikayla.
Mikayla and a friend took turns doing chest compressions. The other three checked the young woman’s pulse, gathered medical information, and ran for help.
“Our training, our skills, everything just kicked in.”
After about 10 strenuous rounds of compressions, the young woman regained consciousness. Paramedics took her to the hospital to get checked out.
“I’ll remember her for the rest of my life. It was just really special for the five of us,” said Mikayla.
Mikayla says she and her friends have responded to lots of medical emergencies in the hospital, but never out in the real world.
She and her friends graduate this August.