It takes just one person certified in the life-saving skill of CPR to give a person on the verge of death a chance of recovery.
That opportunity presented itself Jan. 30 to Michelle Perdue, Kitsap County’s senior program manager for the stormwater division. She recalled receiving a new notification from the PulsePoint app on her phone, telling her someone was in trouble.
“I had never heard that PulsePoint alert sound before,” she said. “I had signed up for the app several years prior, and if you look the app up online, you can see the mission of it is to create this network of identified AED (defibrillator) locations and people that are willing to respond.”
It was a strange moment for Perdue as while she was certified there was still a choice on whether to respond. She said it’s a point in time no certified individual is ready for. “I looked at it, and I had a moment where I thought, ‘Gosh, am I the right person to do this?’” she said. “The second thought behind that one was I have the AED and what if the person doesn’t? So I just grabbed it and went.”
Perdue and two others responded, finding a person with no pulse and not breathing. They delivered two shocks and commenced CPR for 30 minutes. “I am really really thankful that in those moments, the training took over,” she said, “and it was like my hands knew just what to do.”
The person who collapsed has since gone home, a recovery made possible by the response of Perdue and the others.
County commissioners took time during their meeting April 11 to honor Perdue. “We just want to recognize the fact that you jumped into the call of action and saved a life as well as inspired many other county employees to also then become certified,” District 3 Commissioner Katie Walters said.
Perdue thanked the board, saying she would have laughed had someone told her beforehand she would be saving a life that day but is forever grateful she had the skills. “I urge everybody to get trained and stay trained for your families, your co-workers or even a complete stranger,” she said. “You might never need it, but if the time ever comes, you guys can really be the difference for somebody else.”
