Like most of the students in his class, fourteen-year-old Jeff Bernahl probably
never thought he'd use the first aid and CPR training he had learned in school.
Two months later, though, the lessons he'd learned helped save his father's life.
Robert Bernahl, Jeff's father, had walked into the living room of their home
and asked Jeff and his sisters if they wanted to play cards. Then he walked
back toward the kitchen, only to collapse.
"I thought Dad was kidding," Jeff said. He soon realized, however,
that something was very wrong, and that his father was not breathing.
Jeff's father's heart had stopped beating. Jeff's mother, a registered nurse,
began mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, while Jeff began compressing his father's
chest.
"At first I wasn't sure if I remembered how to do it, but it just came
back to me as soon as I started. You have to find the landmark toward the end
of the ribs."
Paramedics who arrived on the scene said that Mr. Bernahl is probably alive
today because of the quick actions of his son and wife -and that Jeff had obviously
learned his CPR training very well.
When you ask Jeff if he considers himself a hero, he just grins and shrugs
his shoulders. But for his courageous actions, Jeff Bernahl has been named to
receive the Red Cross Certificate of Merit - the highest award given by the
American Red Cross.
