U of L nursing student credited with helping save a life

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on August 11, 2022.

Submitted photo Miranda Kohuch and survivor Les Robinson stand with first responders during the award ceremony on last week at the Lethbridge Fire Hall No.1 downtown headquarters.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

A local nursing student was presented with a Community Hero Award by the Lethbridge Fire Department earlier this month for an act of heroism that saved someone’s life in May 2022.

What seemed like a regular day at the Picture Butte golf course on May 18 turned into a life or death situation that had a second year nursing student springing into action.

While getting the pro shop ready for a seniors inter-club event, Miranda Kohuch noticed a group of people looking towards the putting green and did not think much of it until she realized what they were looking at.

“I saw somebody laying there and I just went into nursing mode, because I just finished my second-year nursing school, and I ran outside,” said Kohuch.

She said she immediately asked some bystanders what was going on and she was asked to call 911, but when she did she was put on hold.

“I didn’t have the time to wait, so I hung up the phone and they did call me back but luckily someone else had gotten through, so I grabbed the AED which is an electrical defibrillator, I did all the assessments for first aid, went through all of the initial safety checklist, made sure everything was safe and he wasn’t responding and there was no pulse, so I let the person know who was on the phone with 911 and they let the dispatcher know,” said Kohuch.

She said she was about to start compressions when Ed Krajewski and Rod Linn, two retired firefighters, came over and one of them helped with compressions while she had the AED set up.

“We got it on him, and it didn’t detect any rhythms or detected a certain rhythm that required a shock, so it advised to shock and then we did about three more rounds of compressions, which is about 30 compressions each and the Picture Butte Fire and EMS basic life support truck arrived,” said Kohuch.

She said they arrived quickly while they waited for the ambulance to come from Lethbridge, and they set him up with an IV just in case they had to administer rapid medications.

“They were great, they hooked him up to an ECG machine that analyzes your heart rhythm, and they detected that it was quite severe, so by the time Lethbridge ambulance got there, they took him to the Lethbridge hospital and then he was transported to Calgary for a triple bypass,” said Kohuch.

She said a triple bypass is a very delicate procedure since it is open-heart surgery and it is performed when three arteries in the heart are blocked.

“Essentially the heart muscle dies if there’s no blood getting to that area, so it was very severe,” said Kohuch.

She said after a few days she received a call from LFD to update her on the individual she helped and was happy to know that he had survived. After that she received another update when he was released from the hospital in Calgary and was recovering at home in Lethbridge.

“That was very rewarding and very relieving to me, because I didn’t expect to be thrown in a life and death situation being a second year nursing student still learning all my skills, so it was very scary,” said Kohuch.

She said she was not expecting to get the recognition as she felt she was just doing her duty as a future health care worker.

“I just felt I was doing my duty to the industry, to this individual who had faced such unexpected circumstances,” said Kohuch.

She said prior to receiving the award on Aug. 2, she had the opportunity to meet the survivor, Les Robinson, to really meet him for the first time and it was a very emotional meeting.

“It was very heartwarming, and I burst into tears after he left because it was a realization that somebody was deceased in front of you and now they are living and healthy and it was just really rewarding,” said Kohuch.

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