Beaver teen's quick response saves man's life

BEAVER — Frantic screams aroused 17-year-old Jazlyn Yanssens from sleep shortly after 9 a.m. Tuesday.

Alessa Yanssens, her mom, summoned her daughter to help an elderly man who collapsed in the borough’s Linn Park at the corner of River Road and Buffalo Street while he and his wife were walking their dog.

“Without hesitation, she jumped out of bed and just ran to the park,” Alessa said, to initiate CPR.

Alessa’s morning ritual is to enjoy a cup of coffee on her porch while talking on the phone with friends.

She heard the wife yell.

“I looked up and I saw him fall to the ground,” Alessa said. “I hung up on my friend and dialed 911 and ran over to the park. He was unresponsive. 911 asked if I could do compressions and I said I don’t know how, but my daughter does so I ran back to the house screaming her name.”

Tuesday, Jazlyn said she was to help her brother move belongings to the University of Pittsburgh for the start of classes.

“I thought I woke up late or they left without me,” she said. “I had no idea what I was getting into whenever I woke up.”

Jazlyn, still in her pajamas, raced across the street.

“He wasn’t breathing,” she said, so she started chest compressions.

Jazlyn, who will be a senior at Beaver Area High School, was certified in the life-saving technique more than a year ago. She’s on the swim team and also a lifeguard at the municipal pool.

Christi Ringer, assistant swim coach and also pool manager, taught the course, Jazlyn said.

Other than a training mannequin, Tuesday was the first time she performed CPR.

She felt an “adrenaline rush,” but said she wasn’t nervous.

“I have had to give the Heimlich (maneuver) before,” she said.

“On her boyfriend, by the way,” Alessa interjected.

“He was choking on chicken,” said Jazlyn.

A man driving past the park also stopped to render aid, said Jazlyn, “but nobody really knows who he is.”

The victim's daughter, who didn’t want the family to be identified because her father is a “very private person,” said he is being treated at a hospital.

“We’re so grateful,” the daughter said. “I can’t even express how grateful because he’s alive because of her. Everybody should know CPR. My mum didn’t at the moment but she sure is going to take CPR classes now because you never know.”

Alessa agrees.

The CPR course, she said, is one of the best her daughter and son have taken.

“Without that program, she never would have learned CPR,” said Alessa, a class more people should take because “more lives could be saved ... To me, it’s very valuable and should never be an option of not continuing.”