DULUTH—Last year, Notre Dame Academy partnered with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta to hire a full-time athletic trainer, Amanda Clements, to help monitor the safety of students during athletic activities and events, as well as to develop emergency plans to keep students safe.

Three emergency medical training events have helped students and parents to think how to act in time of crisis. Two NDA families have jumped into action at emergency situations since then.

Kimora Simpson, a ninth-grader and member of the school’s sports medicine team, was riding home with her mother in August weeks after the school’s Athletic Training and Sports Medicine Camp when they came across a multi-car collision.

“In the camp, we talked about how we could help in real world situations since we had just been trained in first aid and CPR. So I asked my mom if we could pull over and help while waiting for the EMS to arrive,” said Kimora. She performed first aid on members from one of the cars involved in the accident while her mother called 911. “I was happy with myself for helping, but most of all, I was glad that I could help and potentially save someone’s life.”

The Gilbertsons, another NDA family, faced a similar situation in late August. On the way to school, they saw a man collapsed on the sidewalk with his bike lying on top of him. Ninth-grader Jonathan Gilbertson began compressions while his mother performed mouth-to-mouth emergency breathing. Sister Jacqueline called 911. The family continued to perform CPR until EMS arrived to take over. Despite their efforts, the cyclist died.

Jonathan had taken a teen CPR certification course in May while his sister, Jacqueline, is a member of the school’s sports medicine team.