Jordan Jones, a CTCS coach, was taking Luke Theodore, a 15-year-old CTCS student, to football practice when they saw three teenagers trying to wave people down for help.
“These people were on the side of the road in a white van and they were getting really close to cars trying to get help,” Theodore said. “I was riding to football with my coach so we just pulled over.”
Jones said there were two girls and a boy. They told him the woman was the grandmother of one of the girls.
“They said her grandmother passed out while they were driving,” Jones said. “They pulled over the car, which is impressive because she was in the driver’s seat.”
The granddaughter told him her grandmother had recently had triple bypass surgery.
“She was completely unresponsive except for a twitch in her mouth,” Jones said. “I couldn’t get a pulse off of her.”
Theodore said after he and Jones stopped, other people began stopping, too.
One of them was a paramedic with Temple Fire & Rescue. Joe Tischler was on his way to a dental appointment when he saw some cars stopped on the road. One young woman was on the phone and Tischler recognized the look on her face as someone in distress, said Thomas Pechal, Temple Fire & Rescue spokesman.
Tischler pulled his car over and started CPR on the woman until Engine 4 arrived and took over, Pechal said.
Jones, who is CPR-certified, offered to take over on chest compressions.
“I was just standing there and I took off my hat and prayed for her while my coach was doing that,” Theodore said.
“The ambulance showed up and I didn’t stick around long enough for the paramedics to tell me what was going on,” Jones said. “I just kind of got out of their way and let them do their job.”
The woman was taken to Scott & White Memorial Hospital. Her condition was unknown.
