St. Peters EMT students help instructor suffering seizure in class hours after lecture on the very topic

ST. PETERS, Mo. (First Alert 4) -A group of EMT students in St. Charles County are earning praise after jumping into action to help their teacher, who suffered a seizure during class.

The class of six students attend Respond Right EMS Academy in St. Peters, taking part in an eight-week course preparing them for the state licensing exam. Last week, in just the third week of the course, their skills were put to the test.

Donna Weiss founded Respond Right in 2009, following a career-ending injury that forced her to retire from her decades of work as an EMT, paramedic and firefighter. After years of working as the Chief Program Officer, she transitioned to teaching two years ago.

“It’s very difficult when you disable out from the job you’ve done,” she said. “I’ve done it since I was 18 years old, you lose a good part of your identity because all you do is help people everyday.”

Opening the academy and more recently, teaching, has helped ease that transition, she said. She teaches roughly five classes a year, propelling students into an industry in desperate need of help.

In the mornings, Weiss often leads a lecture on different topics, before spending the afternoon helping students with hands-on skills and simulations. Last Wednesday, the class covered topics related to seizures and how to aid a patient who may be suffering from one.

“I hadn’t felt well all day and I actually spent a few hours in my office while they were working,” she said. “But I decided to try to power through it in the afternoon.”

She asked one of her students to grab her a popsicle, wondering if her blood sugar was to blame for her lethargy. In a video captured on a classroom camera, she can be seen standing up and telling her students she doesn’t feel well. Moments later, she sits down and begins twitching, before fully convulsing.

Her students, who couldn’t believe the timing, wondered at first if it was a joke.

“It took a second, but when we started seeing the symptoms she was having, we were not laughing and we knew it was serious,” said Trey Claspill. “I called 911 and we all started working together.”

Weiss continued to seize, as her students moved her from the couch to the floor, placing a pillow underneath her head.

“We got her on the ground I noticed pretty quickly she was starting to gurgle or choke on some of her vomit, we got her on her side, got out as much as we could,” said Adam Hawkinson.

Hawkinson, a firefighter with the Cedar Hill Fire Department, said he began delegating tasks to his classmates, who worked together to monitor Weiss’ vital signs and successfully suctioned the vomit and blood from her mouth, enabling her to take a deep breath.

“As soon as she was able to take that breath, she started coming back around, but she didn’t know where she was or who we were,” he said.

Weiss has no memory of the ordeal and said the first thing she remembers is being wheeled into the hospital. Thanks to her classroom camera, she was able to watch how her students reacted and came to her aid.

“Do I think they are completely the reason I’m sitting here today? 100 percent, 100 percent,” she said. “I already knew they were going to be great providers, but after watching that video, there’s no way you could think they’d be anything but great,”

Weiss said her students’ ability to call 911 quickly, turn her on her side and use a suction machine to clear her mouth and airways has enabled her to return to work quickly and make a full recovery. She plans to follow up with a neurologist for further treatment.

“To only be three weeks into their program and execute everything the way they did, it’s amazing,” she said. “I am so proud of them.”