Make wishtv.com your home page

Student learns CPR at airport, saves fellow student 2 days later

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indianapolis International Airport is now one of seven airports in the country to feature a CPR kiosk.

The kiosk features a touchscreen with a video that gives a brief “how-to,” followed by a practice session and a 30-second CPR test. With the help of a practice mannequin, or a rubber torso, the kiosk provides feedback about the depth and rate of compressions and proper hand placement – factors that influence the effectiveness of CPR.

Matt Lickenbrock, a University of Dayton student, was there for the unveiling and to show how he saved the life of a fellow student using hands-only CPR, a life-saving technique that he learned from an instructional kiosk at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

Also in Indianapolis was Sean Ferguson, the student he saved.

“I just wake up every morning thankful to be here.” Ferguson saved. “All of a sudden this didn’t seem so random anymore, it feels like divine intervention.”

Lickenbrock had a three-hour layover at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on April 6, 2015 when he decided to learn something useful. He put down his phone and learned CPR at a hands-only CPR training kiosk at Gate C7. He practiced for about 10 to 15 minutes until he got a perfect score.

“It was just there at the terminal and I had a few hours to kill. It took about ten minutes to learn CPR,” Lickenbrock said.

Two days later, an evening storm rolled through Dayton, Ohio, where Matt attends college. Lickenbrock decided to drive to class instead of walking. As he got out of his car at the campus parking lot, a professor yelled to him, “do you know CPR?”

A student named Sean Ferguson was lying on the ground after being struck by lightning. He didn’t have a pulse.

Lickenbrock rushed over to Sean and started performing hands-only CPR immediately.

“The next thing I know, I wake up 24 hours later at the hospital in Dayton. I hear my dad saying ‘Sean, Sean.’ And I open up my eyes, my body wrapped head-to-toe gauze,” Ferguson said.

The two have become close friends.

“How often do you get to thank someone for saving your life? From then until now, our friendship has grown and I know he will be a life-long friend.” Ferguson said.

The kiosks are part of an effort that began five years ago when the American Heart Association simplified the steps of CPR to encourage more people to take action: If a bystander sees a teen or adult collapse, he or she should first call 911, then push hard and fast in the center of the chest to the beat of the Bee Gees song “Stayin’ Alive,” which has the perfect cadence for proper CPR.

Hands-only CPR removes the step of rescue breaths; bystanders should simply keep pushing until emergency help arrives. This effort coincided with major support from the Anthem Foundation, which this year received the AHA Impact Award in recognition of impacting the lives of people across the country by bringing them the lifesaving skill of hands-only CPR.

To learn more about the hands-only CPR campaign and learn how to save a life, click here . To get fully trained in cpr and find a class near you, click here.