EMT Student Saves Uncle’s Life With Skills Learned At College Of The Canyons

A College of the Canyons (COC) Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) student saved his uncle’s life with skills he learned from the program.

On May 9, Jonathan Nasrallah was celebrating Mother’s Day with his family when he had to apply skills he had learned to save his uncle, who collapsed during the gathering.

“He’s like a dad to me,” Nasrallah said. “In a second, the adrenaline started rushing inside of me and I knew that I had two to three seconds to do something.”

Nasrallah, 21, did everything he had learned in his EMT classes up until that point. After checking his uncle’s pulse and placing his ear to his face to detect breath, he realized his uncle had gone into full cardiac arrest.

The then-student began to administer CPR, as he had learned the human brain could only survive five to six minutes without oxygen.

“I remember everything around me disappeared and everyone zoned out, like you see in the movies,” Nasrallah said. “I was praying, ‘God, I don’t want my uncle to die in my hands.’”

Nasrallah used his body weight during CPR so his arms didn’t get tired, just as his EMT instructor Patti Haley had taught him.

With his father’s help with ventilations, Nasrallah was able to do approximately 100 compressions per minute until the paramedics arrived and took over.

The EMT in training was able to save his uncle’s life, according to COC representatives.

Once his uncle had been taken to a hospital, Nasrallah called Haley.

“I said, ‘Thank you for pushing us,’” Nasrallah said. “Not only do they teach us CPR, but they make sure we practice. The program as a whole, from the way it is structured to the equipment we use, is amazing.”

When Nasrallah recounted the incident to Haley over the phone, she was immediately impressed by his quick thinking and ability to manage the scene and give directions to other family members.

“It is much easier to take care of an anonymous patient with a team of EMS responders, than to handle an unexpected incident with a loved one at a family celebration as a lone EMS provider,” Haley said. “Jonathan is an example of the outstanding men and women that are part of the COC EMT program.”

Two days later, when Nasrallah’s uncle woke up from therapeutic hypothermia—a medically induced procedure to prevent brain damage in cardiac arrest patients and aid in recovery—he had no idea what had happened.

“He thought he passed out,” laughed Nasrallah. “He was shocked and full of big thanks.”

When Nasrallah completed his EMT training at COC the following month, he was given the first Lifesaver Award.

“Patti came up with it because she said she had never had a student save a family member’s life before,” Nasrallah said.

Nasrallah plans to work as an EMT for a couple of years before applying to medical school.

He is also continuing to work toward an associate’s degree in public health science at COC.

Saving his uncle’s life brought his family closer together and made him more sure he wanted to be an ER doctor, according to officials.

“That whole incident sealed the deal with me,” he said. “It made me want to do it even more and save other lives.”

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