Chad Riley, left, and father Jeff Riley, L-455 (Sheffield, Alabama).
FORMER APPRENTICE CHAD Riley, son of Local 455 (Sheffield, Alabama) Jeff Riley, saved a boy’s life on Labor Day weekend with CPR skills he learned while in the Boilermaker National Apprenticeship Program.
Chad Riley and his family were spending part of Labor Day weekend at the Phil Campbell, Alabama, swimming area when Riley heard shouts coming from the water’s edge. A friend’s nephew wasn’t breathing after being found unconscious in the water. A bystander tried CPR on the boy for two minutes, but he still wasn’t breathing.
That’s when Riley’s training from BNAP kicked in. He stepped up and started CPR. “He was ice cold, and his lips were purple,” said Riley, who wasn’t sure the boy would resuscitate. After several minutes of CPR, the boy started breathing very faintly, said Riley. The following week, doctors deemed the boy healthy with no lingering damage.
Riley said it had been five or six years since he was in BNAP. “I’m so thankful I went to that last class. CPR was the last class [I attended] before I started another job.”
