A Bainbridge State College Freshman AgriBusiness student will receive the BSC Hero Award this school year for using his First Aid skills and quick thinking to save a life.
Before heading to his First Aid Class on Sept. 17, Ben Foster of Thomasville stopped by to check on his elderly parents who live down the road from him. His mother told him that his father had fallen in the yard earlier that day and was not feeling well.
“I went in to talk with my dad and noticed he was having trouble talking and pronouncing his words properly,” said Foster.
He immediately recognized this as a classic sign of a stroke, something he learned in his First Aid Class at BSC. Foster told his mother to call the paramedics.
Soon after, his father was admitted to Archibald Memorial Hospital where he was diagnosed with a major stroke and remained in the hospital for a week.
Foster said it was his Safety and First Aid class at BSC that helped him save his father’s life.
David Sarrette, Assistant Professor Health, Physical Education & Wellness at BSC, said, “Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. The stroke victim may suffer brain damage while people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms. For Ben’s quick thinking and insisting his dad go to the hospital, he prevented a bad situation from getting worse and saved his dad’s life from the third leading cause of death in the U.S.”
Sarrette also stressed the importance of adults knowing how to give First Aid and how to deal with emergencies.
“Inevitably life sometimes throws us curve balls in the form of unexpected emergencies, sudden illness, car wrecks and other injuries. Knowing how to handle these situations can mean the difference between life and death in some cases,” he said. “Knowing First Aid gives you the knowledge and skills necessary to act as a first responder in emergency situations and to help protect your family and loved ones from the curve balls life throws us.”
Today, Foster values his BSC education at a whole new level.
He said, “I learned about the science of strokes in class and it stuck with me for a reason. And the reason was to save my father’s life.”
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