Local high school senior applies skills learned in CPR training class to save the life of his best friend’s dad

By Chantal Cook, Vanessa Medina

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    SOUTHWEST RANCHES, Florida (WSVN) — A South Florida high school senior proved to be a class act when someone close to him was in danger.

Juan Carlos Menendez, who had recently took CPR training classes at Archbishop McCarthy High Schooll, put his new skills to good use when he least expected.

7News cameras on Wednesday captured Menendez hugging his best friend, Graesen Pethtel.

“Love you, man,” said Menendez.

“Love you, too,” said Pethtel.

One day, Menendez, known as JC among friends, saved the life of Pethtel’s father.

“I was hanging out with my friends, and all of a sudden, my friend’s mom started screaming out, ‘Someone call 911,’” said Menendez.

“We all run over to her bedroom, and I see my dad lying on the floor and unconscious. I froze, and so did my mom. We didn’t know what to do,” said Pethtel.

Pethtel’s dad was in cardiac arrest.

It was at that moment that Menendez sprang into action.

“I turned him over, quickly assessed he was unconscious. He wasn’t responding to anything I was saying, checked his pulse, checked for his breathing,” said Menendez. “I couldn’t find either of those, so I immediately started CPR.”

Menendez knew to start CPR due to a class he recently started taking at his high school. He showed 7News his CPR skills up close.

“Sir, can you hear me?” said Menendez to a CPR mannequin. “Checking for a pulse, no pulse. Chest rise, no chest rise. Beginning CPR.”

“CPR and patient assessment, anatomy and physiology, dealing with cardiac patients, it gives the students an idea what emergency medicine is like,” said CPR instructor Mike Sica.

Menendez was three weeks into the class when he gave Pethtel’s dad CPR.

“I was just thinking about saving this man’s life,” said Menendez.

“That’s the goal, is to learn in a classroom, in a lecture room, and be able to apply it in the field, because that’s where they going to be working,” said Sica, “and that’s where you’re going to be helping people and saving lives.”

“Even the doctors were saying, if JC wasn’t there, my father would not be here,” said Pethtel.

Pethtel father is recovering in the hospital.

“He’s woken up, he’s doing a lot better, he’s breathing on his own,” said Menendez.

“I have [JC] to thank, I owe him my life. We all owe him our lives, my whole family,” said Pethtel.

Menendez has a message for people who don’t know how to use CPR.

“I 1,000% think that everyone should learn CPR, because unfortunately, stuff like this happens. Cardiac arrest is something that just happens, and knowing the skill is literally lifesaving,” he said.

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