Fourth-year College of Pharmacy student Anita Baluch did more than just celebrate her 24th birthday last April at a Nashville restaurant. She saved a life.
Baluch, who is from Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, and on rotation in Nashville, was having her birthday dinner with her boyfriend, when one of the restaurant patrons started choking. Using the CPR training she received as a student in the College of Pharmacy, she performed the Heimlich maneuver (abdominal thrusts) on the choking man, dislodging the food blocking his airway and saving his life.
“We are having appetizers, everything is great, and then I just hear somebody scream that he’s choking,” Baluch recalled. “And I look over, nobody’s doing the Heimlich properly. Everyone’s just smacking his face and hitting his chest, and so I ran over there. I didn’t even think about it.”
“Thankfully, the college has given us the opportunity to be certified in CPR and we do it every two years to keep up that certificate,” she continued. “So, I started the Heimlich, and he was a bigger man, so my boyfriend came over and he tried to help stabilize him and pick him up, because at this point, he had passed out. It felt like an eternity, but it was probably only 30 seconds and then a Brussels sprout flew out and the color returned to his face.”
The man was taken to the hospital and the grateful family got Baluch’s email. “I was thinking about him the whole night, while we wrapped up our dinner and the owner actually paid for the meal,” she said.
“It was very nice, and he invited us back for another time, because he said he wanted me to get a redo on my birthday and that it would be completely on the restaurant, which I thought was so sweet.”
Two days later, she got an email from the family saying the man was doing well. “That just made my day,” Baluch said.
The College of Pharmacy requires all student pharmacists receive the American Heart Association Basic Life Support (BLS) training to improve the outcomes of patients who suffer sudden cardiac arrest. Additionally, 12-15 students every year are trained to be AHA CPR instructors as part of an elective course. These students then train pharmacy students, other health care professionals, and members of the community to increase the number of people in the life-saving skills of CPR.
Kelly Rogers, PharmD, a professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Translational Science in the College of Pharmacy, is the director of the CPR course. She is also the program coordinator for the Campus AED (automated external defibrillator) program, which aims to train every employee to use an AED and provide effective CPR. Campus-wide AED and CPR training is scheduled annually.
Currently, 67 AEDs are located across campus. “The program started in 2010, when there was only one AED that I could find in any building,” Dr. Rogers said. “Since 2010, I have taught the annual CPR training free to campus employees. I have trained approximately 1,020 employees.”
Baluch plans to graduate this spring and hopes to complete a residency in Middle Tennessee and become a clinical pharmacist. She believes everyone should know CPR and related life-saving procedures.
“I would tell people, even if you were not in the health care realm or field, there are so many CPR courses locally that are being given every single day,” she said. “I think it is so important for people to start thinking about this as something that is a useful skill to have, especially because you just never know when you’re going to get put in a situation like this.” She said she even advised the restaurant owner to get certified.
“I am extremely proud of Anita for jumping in and taking action to save this gentleman’s life,” Dr. Rogers said. “Many people are afraid to get involved and help, often because they fear they may hurt someone or not remember what they should do in these situations. More than 350,000 people in the U.S. suffer a cardiac arrest outside of a hospital setting with almost 90% of them do not survive. If more people learn the skills of CPR and how to relieve choking in people, lives can be saved.”
This story initially ran in the Fall 2024 Pharmacy magazine.