[Spokane, WA] In October, Ethan Moriniti thought it was going to be a normal day at work. But when he arrived at his job at the Liberty Lake Golf Course, people were yelling that a man needed help and was possibly having a heart attack. Moriniti – who is a student at Spokane Falls Community College – ran from the clubhouse to a figure lying on the ground.
“It was apparent that I needed to start chest compressions,” said Moriniti, 20. “As I continued, I realized that the gentleman was not responding to the compressions.”
With time running out, Moriniti hooked up the man to an automated external defibrillator (AED) and administered a shock. One shock was enough to help the man, and Moriniti continued compressions until paramedics arrived.
“I had a lot of mixed emotions,” he said. “During the incident, I knew I needed to stay calm, take control and focus on what I had learned.”
Moriniti credits SFCC’s American Heart Association First Aid course with giving him the skills to save the man’s life.
“At no point did I feel I wasn't prepared to do everything I needed to try and save this gentleman's life thanks to the training I received,” he said.
The course through the Athletics program is rigorous: 33 hours that stretches through an entire quarter at the college. Some of the skills that students learn are to identify and care for life threatening bleeding, poisoning, heat and cold injuries and soft tissue and musculoskeletal injuries. At the end, students receive a certification – either a Heart Saver Certification or the more in-depth Basic Life Support certification, which teaches students to use the AED machine – that is good for two years.
According to health instructor Jenni Hull, nearly 50 students are currently enrolled in the class. She said that other students have also saved lives after taking the course.
“Overall, the class gives them the tools they need to react quickly in an emergency,” Hull said. “Ethan knew it was go time. He didn’t skip a beat.”
Due to Moriniti’s fast thinking, the man quickly recovered and was back to golfing within a week.
For more information or to set up an interview, please contact Jenni Hull at Jenni.Rosselli-Hull@ccs.spokane.edu or Jeff Bunch at jeff.bunch@ccs.spokane.edu.
CCS provides education and services in a six-county region of Eastern Washington, operates Spokane Falls Community College and Spokane Community College and is the largest provider of Head Start and Early Childhood Education in the region. Each year, nearly 30,000 people – from infants to senior citizens – are provided educational services by CCS.