At a Local 28 (Newark, New Jersey) Welding Boot Camp, the July weather turned sweltering, with 100-degree temperatures and high humidity. The group had just finished a welding exercise and was headed into the air-conditioned classroom when Tim Dennison, an apprentice and former police officer, noticed his welding buddy missing. So, he went back to look outside.
“After I found him, he took three steps towards me and collapsed,” Dennison said, wondering at first if his friend was joking. But when he rolled him over, he found he wasn’t breathing. Dennison quickly began CPR. When his friend began breathing, Dennison attempted to speak with him but his breathing stopped a second time. Dennison began chest compressions and once again and his friend began to breath, but then stopped a third time.
“By the time the EMTs had come, he was conscious,” Dennison said. “I was just happy I was there, because I’m not sure anyone would have known he’d stopped breathing.”
Dennison, who learned CPR as a police officer, hadn’t practiced it in years. But it came back to him when he needed it most.
