Andrew Phelps was riding in the back seat of the family car as his older sister drove him and their mother out of their neighborhood during the early afternoon of Saturday, May 22.
As they turned a corner, Andrew happened to notice a car that seemed to have driven up on the curb. He thought it was strange that the car’s right, rear tire was off the ground—hovering halfway between the curb and the road.
As the family car drove past the out-of-place vehicle, Andrew turned his head around to look at the driver and saw that his head was slumped down.
“My sister and mom didn’t see it, but I yelled for my sister to stop and she slammed on the brakes,” Andrew said. “I told them that there was somebody in that car and we needed to help.”
Andrew jumped out and ran over to the car—noticing that the front bumper had clipped a light pole.
Instantly, his mind began assessing the situation, identifying ways to make the scene safe, and making a plan to provide medical assistance—all tools that Andrew had learned only one week earlier in his CPR/AED course at John W. North High School.
THE TRAINING
As a 16-year old who was days away from completing his sophomore year at John W. North High School in the Riverside Unified School District, Andrew had been taking Sports Medicine coursework as part of a Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathway offered at his school by the Riverside County Office of Education (RCOE).
As a student-athlete on the football team, Andrew had also begun seeing the value of knowing how to handle sports injuries and continued taking classes each year to advance his skills.
“I saw this field as a possible career path and a way to also learn cool skills that I could use in everyday situations,” Andrew said.
Only one week earlier, Andrew had taken the American Health & Safety Institute Basic First Aid/CPR and Automated External Defibrillator (AED) for Adult/Child/Infant training.
“We learned about all types of scenarios and situations where those skills could be of use,” Andrew said. “The training was pretty cool because we learned skills that could potentially save somebody’s life, which is awesome, so I was taking it very seriously.”
Andrew recalled how he remained focused during the training—recognizing the gravity of life-or-death situations that someone could face at any time.
“I realized that if I messed up in an emergency in the real world, I would be responsible for my own actions,” Andrew said. “I wasn’t exactly hoping for an opportunity to try out what I learned, but, in the back of my head, I knew that if something happened, I’d know what to do.”
THE RESCUE
Now facing a real-life emergency in his own neighborhood, Andrew didn’t hesitate.
“We’re taught to make the scene safe, so I assessed the situation,” Andrew said.
Andrew checked to make sure the light pole wasn’t damaged or precarious enough to fall over. He identified that the car was still running, so he opened the driver's door to put the car in park, engaged the emergency brake, and turned off the engine.
“When I opened the car door, the driver wasn’t responsive, so I tried to shake him a bit. He appeared to be unconscious, but was clearly still breathing,” Andrew said. “It didn’t appear that there was an airway obstruction, but I unbuckled him from his seatbelt in case he coughed up something, or had a seizure, and then I would have had to drag him out of the car to give CPR.”
Andrew checked for a pulse and yelled to his mom to call 911.
“As soon as the operator got on the line, I told my mom to give me the phone so I could provide all the vital information to the operator,” Andrew said.
Within 5-7 minutes, emergency personnel arrived, and Andrew communicated the status of the situation to the first responders who took over the care of the driver who was having a diabetic seizure.
“The emergency personnel told me I did a good job, and that if we hadn’t come around the corner when we did, he would have been dead within 20 minutes,” Andrew said.
It wasn’t until the next day that it registered with Andrew that he had been using what he learned in the training the previous week.
Andrew proceeded to share his story with the school’s athletic trainer, Kylie Murphy, his sports medicine teacher, Deborah Parsons, and his fellow students.
“I learned something about myself—that if I’m put in a situation, I know I can keep my cool and stay focused, and I won’t flip out and make things worse,” Andrew said. “I feel like I can handle anything that can be thrown at me.”