Quick Thinking Teachers Save Teen's Life

News channels are featuring a video of a Texas seventh grade girl whose life was saved by teachers in a middle school after she went into cardiac arrest and collapsed.

The teachers immediately started CPR, but it was only when they used an automatic external defibrillator (AED) that they were able to get her heart beating again. 

The teachers are being recognized as saving the life of 12-year-old Kylee Shea of Frisco, Texas. If not for their actions, there was only a 3 percent chance of the student surviving and a 1 percent chance she would have recovered without some permanent brain damage.

While AEDs are recognized as a valuable life saving device, Georgia law only mandates they be installed at all high schools in the state. But has AEDs installed in all public schools in the counties.

“All Gwinnett County public schools have a least one AED,” said Jorge Quintana, public spokesman for Gwinnett County Public Schools. “In addition, AEDs also can be found in several district-level facilities such as the Instructional Support Center. Each GSPC location decides where to house its AEDs but they are typically found in a central location.”

Quintana said although the Georgia law passed in 2008 only required that high schools carry AEDs, GCPS decided to have a least one AED in each of its schools.

“In addition to our staff and students being in our schools during the day, our schools also are used in the evening by different organizations and community groups,” Quintana said.

The incident last week in a Texas middle school shows how valuable this equipment can be in all schools, not just high schools.