By Celeste McLaughlin
Last month, Hunter’s Green resident Rosalie Kayian was given a Citizen’s Award from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) for her efforts to save the life of a teenager at Tampa Bay Technical High (Tech) on Orient Rd., where she works as a Registered Nurse (RN).
The ceremony was held at the HCSO complex on Falkenburg Rd., which honored several deputies for their extraordinary work. One of those honored was HCSO Deputy Richard Robinson, the school resource officer assigned to Tampa Bay Tech, who received a Life Saving Award for his role in the same incident. Because Kayian and her fellow school nurse, Mary Bauman, LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse) aren’t deputies, they were each recognized with HCSO Citizen Awards.
When asked about the incident, Kayian was humble. “Well, I’m a nurse,” she says, “so that’s part of my job.”
Kayian, as an RN, supervises the LPNs at one or more schools. Over the last 12 years, she says she has worked at every New Tampa school (except Louis Benito Middle School) and she currently is assigned to both Harold H. Clark Elementary in West Meadows and to Tampa Bay Tech.
Back in October, Kayian and Bauman, were working at Tampa Bay Tech. They received a call that a 14-year-old girl had fainted and joined Dep. Robinson to administer help to the girl.
Armed with an automated external defibrillator (AED), the three found the girl unable to speak or move her arms and legs. Kayian says the girl then gasped and became completely non-responsive.
That’s when Kayian cut away the girl’s clothes and attached the AED pads. Following the directions on the AED machine, Bauman gave the girl chest compressions, and then Kayian gave her breaths with an “Ambu bag,” a hand-held device designed to provide air to patients who aren’t breathing. After 90 compressions, Kayian says Bauman was winded and asked Dep. Robinson to take over. After 20 more compressions, Kayian says the girl opened her eyes and said, “Someone’s hurting my chest.”
At that time, emergency services arrived and took the girl to the hospital. Although it was still unknown at our press time exactly what caused her to faint, she reportedly continues to experience fainting spells that, unfortunately, have kept her out of school.
While Kayian says she has seen and dealt with a lot of medical trauma in 20 years at Tampa General Hospital, where she started her nursing career, she says it’s unexpected at a high school. In fact, in her twelve years at various schools, she says this is the first time she’s experienced such an incident. “It was probably the most stressful thing I’ve ever done,” she admits.
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