Jessica Schladebeck
New York Daily News
An off-duty police officer and his nurse wife sprang into action when a fellow voter collapsed outside a polling place at a Missouri high school, performing CPR until the assistant principal arrived with a defibrillator and shocked him back to consciousness.
Liberty High School was one of two schools in the Wentzville School District serving as a polling place on Election Day, according to a district news release. The assistant principal, Dr. Matt Kiesel, was ensuring officials had everything they needed when he learned someone had collapsed outside the building.
Lake Saint Louis resident Kenny Nowling said he was speaking with a man waiting to cast his vote when he suddenly dropped to the ground. A nearby nurse and her husband, an off-duty police officer, immediately began to administer CPR while Nowling sought out assistance.
Kiesel arrived a short time later with an AED device from the school nurse’s office and helped administer a shock that restarted the man’s pulse. School officials said he began to regain consciousness just as first responders arrived on the scene in an ambulance.
Kiesel, who is being lauded as a hero, said the man was responsive and talking before he was taken to the hospital for treatment.
“Thank you to the Lake Saint Louis police officer, his nurse and angel of a wife and Dr. Kiesel for acting so calmly and methodically and saving this man’s life!” Nowling said on social media.
“You all are real life SUPER HEROES! What a perfect time for all of us to remember that, regardless of our political affiliations, we are all human beings living in the greatest country in the world.”
___
(c)2020 New York Daily News