Teaching nursing to students at Cerritos College can lead to telling experiences that can be life saving.

Patty Riedel RN, MSN is a full time instructor in the nursing program and she has had numerous experiences with Cardiac Pulmonary Resuscitation CPR being an ICU/ER nurse, but none like what she experienced on Aug 16.

“I just returned from my CPR class that is mandatory for all nursing instructors to take every year by the school,” Riedel said.

She was on her way to attend a movie “Seabiscut” with her brother who is also a nurse down at the Long Beach AMC Marina.

As we walked in we saw that someone had dropped her ticket stub on the ground. We picked it up and proceeded in when we saw an 80-year-old woman on the ground in full cardiac arrest, said Riedel.

“My brother and I immediately reacted to the situation and began giving the woman CPR. I feel now thinking back how ironic it was that I just came from my CPR class that I needed to take to teach,” Riedel said.

Soon after Riedel and her brother started the paramedics came and took the woman to Long Beach Community hospital.

Riedel and her brother were able to revive the woman using the CPR techniques that they learned in the class.

“It was amazing that we were able to bring her back because first of all some people don’t make,” she said.

Riedel knows that if CPR isn’t started quickly enough that the person can have brain damage due to the loss of oxygen.

They went to visit the woman after viewing the movie in the hospital.

“We wanted to see her and also give her back her movie stub that she dropped. It was wonderful to see her so alert and not on any machines. The family was very grateful for what my brother and I did,” Riedel said. Riedel first started working at Cerritos College as a part-time instructor in the late 90s. This fall semester is her first year as being a full-time instructor.

Riedel teaches second year nursing students at the college.

Riedel went to classes for CPR with a company called Pro CPR. The company can be found on the Internet at www.procpr.com.

Riedel wants to stress to everyone how important it is to learn CPR. Even if you might not have a job that uses it, you can help anyone else that might need it.

“You’ll never know when you will need to help someone. It is a good skill to pick up and it will help you in the long run. I suggest everyone learn how to do CPR,” Riedel said.