Kentucky teen's CPR skills, quick thinking save neighbor's life

Kentucky teen's CPR skills, quick thinking save neighbor's life

SHELBY COUNTY, Ky. — Over the weekend, a 17-year-old Kentucky high school student jumped into action and has been credited with saving her neighbor’s life.

Mackenzie Bruner told Spectrum News 1, "I couldn’t just watch and lose him. I just wanted to make a difference on saving his life."

Bruner’s CPR training came exactly at the right moment. On Saturday, Bruner was asleep when her mother came running into her bedroom desperate for help. Her neighbor, Tom, was unresponsive after undergoing a medical emergency.

"He was laying on the ground so I ran over there and they were doing CPR on him and I told them 30 compressions to two breaths," Bruner said.

Seconds later, the teenager didn’t think twice when she saw her beloved neighbor collapsed outside who she cherishes as a grandpa.

"I was very nervous and my anxiety level went through the roof," Bruner said.

With the help of several others, Bruner did her part while waiting for first responders to arrive. "They said if we didn’t start right away he wouldn’t of made it as far as he did," she explained.

Luckily, Bruner, who not long ago completed a CPR training at school in her Emergency Procedures Course, applied her training in a real life situation which played a huge role in saving her neighbors life.

"I might not do this stuff in the dental field, but I will able to do use like in life just in general," Bruner said.

It’s a skill she learned from her health science instructor Sherry Allen.

"We’re just truly making responsible citizens that are out in the community and they know how to implement these things," Allen said. "When they leave here that’s one of the last questions I ask them, 'if you had to do this do you feel confident that you can do this?'"

She's taught hundreds of students CPR over her 17 year career in education. For this health science educator, her class provides aspiring medical students training to respond to emergencies that require medical attention.

"They step up you know because life happens because you don’t have to be in a medical facility to use these skills and most of the time things happen outside of the hospital," Allen said.

This experience taught Bruner and fellow classmates the importance of learning CPR in school.

"Somethings do happen even if you don’t think it's going to happen," says Bruner.

According to Mackenzie, her neighbor is still in critical condition in the hospital. Upon graduation, she wants to further her education and become a dental assistant.