April 4, 2018

VCU Health daycare teacher who saved toddler's life with CPR to be honored by American Heart Association

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By Laura Rossacher

Grateful parents, along with the American Heart Association, will surprise a daycare teacher at the VCU Health Child Care Center with the AHA Heartsaver Hero Award for saving the life of a toddler by administering timely CPR.

Reporters are invited to cover the surprise award presentation on Thursday, April 5, at 1:30 p.m. The VCU Health Child Care Center is located at 607 N. 10th Street, Richmond.

The child’s mother, a clinical instructor at VCU Medical Center’s department of emergency medicine, has since trained over 40 people who learned about her daughter’s full recovery in hands-only CPR. When a person has a cardiac arrest, survival depends on immediately receiving CPR. Yet, only 46 percent of people who suffer an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest receive CPR from a bystander, according to the AHA. Bystander CPR, especially if administered immediately after cardiac arrest, can double or triple a person’s chance of survival.