Sea Cadet saves life at Metro station

Geremiah Edness, a D.C. resident and member of the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps Henry E. Mooberry Division, based at the Washington Navy Yard, credited the Sea Cadets and the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training he received last month (and the six Virginia nurses who volunteered to give up part of their Super Bowl Sunday to teach the course) for the confidence to take action.

Edness was in the McPherson Square Metro train station on his way home from school when the unidentified man, known only as ‘‘Jason,” lost consciousness at about 4:20 p.m. While other people gathered around, Edness used the CPR training and the self-confidence he gained as a member of the Sea Cadets to take charge of the situation and save the man’s life.

‘‘I immediately thought to stay cool and told myself that I know what to do,” Edness said. While others went to summon help, Edness told the crowd that he knew CPR, then went through the procedures taught to him at Sea Cadet training: observing the area for safety, checking the man's pulse and breathing, clearing his airway, and positioning him for CPR.

After determining that the young man's heart had stopped, Edness performed CPR, including chest compressions. After several compressions, the man gasped and began breathing on his own, but was still disoriented. Describing his feelings at the time, ‘‘I was very proud of my training and how to apply it,” Edness told his family.

When paramedics arrived, one of them asked Cadet Edness what authorization he had to give CPR. With the confidence and pride borne of his Sea Cadet membership and training, Edness replied, ‘‘Geremiah Andre Edness, U.S. Naval Sea Cadet,“ then showed the medic his Sea Cadet Identification Card. The Paramedics thanked Cadet Edness for his help, then tended to the recovering patient.

Edness and 36 other Sea Cadets, ranging from 10 to 17 years old, were trained in CPR Feb. 3, at Potomac Hospital in Woodbridge, Va. Janice K. Lavoie, a director of nursing at the hospital and a volunteer adult leader for the Sea Cadet unit, coordinated the training, conducted by Lavoie, Judy Merring, nurse educator at the hospital and a retired Naval Reserve Captain, and four other nurses, representing the hospital, Navy and Air Force.

For more than four decades, the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps program has taught young people ages age 10 to 17, and adult volunteers, age 18 and up, about leadership, honor, courage, commitment, respect and instilled self-confidence, self-reliance, patriotism, and an appreciation for the sea services, while keeping them away from gangs, drugs and other negative influences. For more information, call 703-740-1138 or visit www.seacadetsdc.org