A first aid instructor in Nanaimo, B.C. had just finished explaining CPR to his students, demonstrating chest compressions, when one of the students suddenly became an all-too-real world example.
Earl Morris had a heart attack and went into cardiac arrest in the middle of the St. John's Ambulance course he was taking to learn how to help others.
First aid instructor Paul McCoy says he could tell right away something was very wrong with Morris.
"He was in his chair and not looking good. He had gone unconscious. So we got him to the floor," McCoy told CTV Vancouver Island near CFB Esquimalt
Morris, 66, says he doesn’t remember much about the moment.
"The last thing I remember was dropping my exercise book and I basically blacked out."
With Morris no longer registering a pulse, McCoy and others in the room sprang into action, calling 911 and grabbing an AED, or automated defibrillator device, off the wall.
"We shocked him two or three times before the paramedics showed up and once they showed up, they asked me to keep going on CPR and doing compressions."
Morris managed to get to hospital in time, but he says he knew he might not have made it if his heart attack had happened somewhere else.
"We wouldn't be talking if I wasn't at the first aid course and had such experienced responders there," he told CTV Vancouver Island.
Morris now has a pacemaker in his chest and is continuing to recover. But he wants to spread the word to anyone who doesn't know first aid or CPR to sign up for a course and learn.
"You'll never know when you come across someone who needs your help," he says.
With a report from CTV Vancouver Island’s Yvonne Raymond
