March 29, 2006

Artesia News

Cerritos College Athletic Training Student Saves a Life

NORWALK , CA  - March 29, 2006  - Kim Stolk, a Cerritos College athletic training student, saved a baby's life on Monday, March 20 at a Washington Mutual bank in Bellflower by using CPR procedures she learned in class only a few days prior to the incident.

The 20-year-old Lakewood resident and player on Cerritos College's women's volleyball team was inside the Washington Mutual bank on the corner of Bellflower Boulevard and Flower Street at 3:30 p.m. on Monday, March 20, when a woman came into the bank holding an infant who had stopped breathing and was turning blue.

Stolk said the woman screamed, "Does anyone know CPR?" Stolk was the only person in the crowded bank who raised her hand.

Seconds later, she was on her knees delivering life-saving CPR to the infant, a two-month-old preemie. The child began to breathe and cry on its own after Stolk gave it two rounds of CPR. Shortly thereafter, a fire truck crew and ambulance arrived at the scene and took the infant and its mother to a local hospital, but Stolk was credited by the emergency responders as having saved the baby's life.

Cerritos College athletic training instructor Mikiko "Mimi" Aoyagi, had led Stolk in learning infant CPR just a few days before Stolk encountered the infant at the bank.

Stolk says she thinks everyone should be certified and re-certified in CPR measures on a regular basis. "You never know when you might need it," she said.

Using a practice mannequin made available to Cerritos College students in CPR training, Stolk demonstrates how she delivered life-saving CPR procedures to the two-month-old infant on March 20.
Cerritos College athletic training instructor Mikiko "Mimi" Aoyagi, had led Stolk in learning infant CPR just a few days before Stolk encountered the infant at the bank.


For more information about Cerritos College 's Athletic Training Program, please visit www.cerritos.edu/hpea .

Cerritos College celebrates the 2005-06 school year as its 50th anniversary in serving as a comprehensive community college for southeastern Los Angeles County . Communities within the college's district include Artesia, Bellflower , Bell Gardens , Cerritos , Downey , Hawaiian Gardens , Lakewood , La Mirada , Norwalk , Santa Fe Springs and Southgate . Cerritos College offers degrees and certificates in more than 180 areas of study in nine divisions. Annually, more than 1,200 students successfully complete their course of studies, and enrollment currently surpasses 20,000 students. Visit Cerritos College online at www.cerritos.edu , and view a celebratory site honoring the college's 50 years of tradition, honor and values at www.cerritos.edu/50 .

 

Cerritos College Media Contact:  Kristen Habbestad , Public Affairs; (562) 860-2451, ext. 2287

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