At Reynolds Hall, three students shared the response to a gym emergency; near Milan Puskar Stadium, Hannah Marks joined aid efforts during another medical crisis. WVU’s Student Government Association recognized Marks, Finian McKay, Jordan Sexstone and Julie Weisz on November 4 for their actions in the two October incidents.
Conflicting accounts of the stadium response
The reports differ on when the incident involving Marks happened. WVU Stories places it on October 10, during the Coal Rush game against the Arizona Wildcats, in the light blue parking lot; WAJR dates it to October 11 and describes an elderly man who fell in that lot. The accounts also differ on Marks’s role: WVU Stories says Dr. Carmen Burrell was administering CPR when Marks arrived and took over compressions, while WAJR says Marks offered help as Burrell continued CPR. WVU Stories reports that Marks performed five or six rounds of compressions and breaths before the man began coming to, with EMS arriving shortly afterward. The reports do not resolve the differences.
A response at the Reynolds Hall fitness center
On October 7, Logan Holbrook became unresponsive at the Reynolds Hall fitness center. According to WVU Stories, McKay contacted emergency services while Weisz and Sexstone performed CPR and rescue breaths. The university’s account says Holbrook was taken to WVU Ruby Memorial Hospital, where doctors found he had suffered a cardiac arrhythmia. It identifies Weisz and McKay as gym staff and Sexstone as a graduate student who was working out nearby.
The value of prompt CPR
The American Heart Association says CPR given immediately after cardiac arrest can double or triple a person’s chance of survival. Its cited 2021 data show that 9.1% of adults treated by EMS for non-traumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survived to hospital discharge.
