Saving a Life: Yorktown Students Take a CPR Class

You never know whose life you could save with your own hands.  volunteers believe everyone should know how to do CPR in case someone they love or even a stranger collapses.

They taught 19 students last week how to perform Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), an emergency procedure to manually preserve brain function until further measures are taken to restore blood circulation and breathing in a person in cardiac arrest.

"It's good to know [CPR], it can't hurt, it can only help," said Rich Cariello, a YVAC volunteer for more than three decades. 

Timing is also critical, Cariello said. Someone who has had CPR performed on him or her immediately has much better chances of survival.

Mallory Eliasson, a senior at Yorktown High School, said she wanted to take the CPR because she will be studying nursing in college and her best friend's life was saved after she suffered a cardiac arrest and was revived by three people.  

 suffered a cardiac arrest as a 15-year-old athlete during a volleyball practice. She was revived by Katy Sherwood (YHS varsity volleyball coach), Mike Rescigno (YHS varsity football coach), and Jeff Wilson (Yorktown Athletic Club coach). When Sherwood realized Katarina didn’t have a pulse and wasn’t breathing, she commenced performing CPR. 

Wilson, a Yorktown and Mamaroneck volunteer firefighter, happened to be in the building at the time of the incident on July 15, 20120 and was able to apply his knowledge by carrying out chest compressions on Katarina. He is also a CPR and First Aid instructor for the American Heart Association (was formerly for the American Red Cross as well) and a certified EMT.

Rescigno rushed to the gym with an automated external defibrillator (AED), which indicated that a shock was not necessary. Afterwards, Katarina Weigel coughed and her heart began beating. Subsequently, the ambulance arrived, and she regained consciousness on the way to the hospital.

"If I'm ever in that situation I would want not want the person next to me to die because I didn't know what to do," Eliasson said. 

Read more about Katarina and the people who helped save her life .

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"The reason I was motivated to help make this class happen is simple," said Theresa Ryan-Onatzevitch, PTSA president. "CPR saves lives. It is easy to learn and CPR can more than double a person's chance of survival. Imagine the impact if even one life could be saved." 

Cariello said when performing CPR, chest compressions are the most important because they will keep the blood circulating and the brain alive. The recommended ratio of compression to ventilation is 30:2 – 30 compressions to 2 breaths. That is done until medical help arrives, the person responds, or through physical exhaustion you can't do CPR anymore and someone else can take over.

According to the American Heart Association, the beat of the Bee Gees' song "Stayin' Alive" provides the ideal amount of beats-per-minute for CPR.

The students who took the class and got CPR certified are:

• Lauren Onatzevitch
• Renee Schiavone
• Jennifer Cristiano
• Patrick O'Meara
• Cameron Cushner
• Brian O'Shea
• Katie O'Shea
• Natalie Sellars
• Julian Cagne
• Adrian Cagne
• Chris Cappa
• Danielle Ciffone
• Marissa Molea
• Josh Woda
• Ariana Aboulafia
• Mallory Eliasson
• Sean Kelly
• Sam Apronti
• Christina Cioffi