N-B Links: Norwell student revives his mother after learning CPR, rescue breathing in classroom

Austin Combs had about 10 minutes to prevent irrevocable brain damage.

His mother wasn’t breathing — and wouldn’t wake up after lying down — and the only other adult was talking to the 911 dispatcher.

But 12-year-old Combs, a seventh-grade student at Norwell Middle School, enrolled in Aquatics Director Jon Gates’ aquatics class the semester before, and he learned on a mannequin how to perform CPR and give rescue breaths.

And by the time Wells County EMS arrived at the Ossian residence, Combs’ mother could tell them to return to the hospital without her.

Her son had done his homework that Friday night.

Learn more in the Saturday, Feb. 22, News-Banner, and click on the links for the American Red Cross and the American Heart Association, both of which offer online CPR/rescue classes.