Dec 19, 2023Athletic trainer saves Utah student-athlete’s life during sudden cardiac arrest
Thanks to the quick actions of an athletic trainer, a Utah student-athlete is recovering safely after suffering a sudden cardiac arrest last week.
Sixteen-year-old Dean Phillips had just finished a set of front squats in the weight room of Sky View High School when he suddenly seized up and fell to the ground unconscious.
Ac
cording to a written statement from the Cache County School District, other students and staff were present at the time and the on-duty athletic trainer performed life-saving care to Phillips until the paramedics arrived.
A recent story from KSLTV.com detailed the life-saving actions taken by the athletic trainer and his teammates. Below is an excerpt from the KSLTV.com story.
Preece said Phillips’ friends rushed to get the athletic trainer, who used an automated external defibrillator — often called an AED — to restart his heart. He was then transported to McKay-Dee Hospital and then taken by a medical helicopter to Primary Children’s Hospital, where he was sedated and intubated in the ICU that night.
“This morning they tried to wake him and he tried to sit up and was uncooperative again, and would not open his eyes or squeeze their hand,” wrote Preece in a Facebook post Tuesday morning.