Riverside Health Science Student Saves a Life

Kasey Collins is a senior at Riverside High School. She dreams of becoming a nurse and is enrolled in a college-level health science class. Kasey was on FaceTime with a friend from camp when she noticed that one side of his face was drooping. She became concerned and asked him if he could lift his arms. When he replied his speech was slurred and he told her that his arms were asleep. Kasey told him she thought he was having a stroke and needed immediate medical attention. “At first he thought I was joking,” Collins said, “but then he went and he was diagnosed with a stroke."

Collins said, “I literally learned neurological symptoms the day before that. More kids need to learn these basic symptoms. You should learn CPR. You should know the basic symptoms for heart attack and that comes from taking health science.”

Collins will enroll in a dual credit EMT course offered through Prisma Health Simulation Center next semester.

She says she is more confident in her medical knowledge and grateful she was able to help. Her instructor Amanda Abrams, RN calls Kasey, “Brilliant.” Abrams says, “For Kasey to have not only learned the information, but to retain it and be able to apply it that is a true medical professional. She took information from a book and used it in the real world while still a senior in high school. She changed that child’s life. He does not have a permanent disability because of her."