UPDATE: Woman who received CPR at Costa Vida contacts East Idaho News
Published at | Updated at
UPDATE:
EastIdahoNews.com received an email from a woman who said she was the Rachel who had the medical incident at Costa Vida. She says she is doing well and thanked Cook for her kindness.
ORIGINAL STORY:
AMMON – A woman who performed CPR on another woman who collapsed in an Ammon restaurant last week wants to know how she’s doing.
Renee Cook of Ammon tells EastIdahoNews.com she was eating lunch at Costa Vida on Friday. Sometime between 12:30 and 1 p.m., a customer collapsed next to the cash register, according to Tyson Walker, the restaurant’s assistant manager.
Cook was seated with her back to the counter and didn’t see what happened, but an employee asked the crowd if there was a doctor or nurse in the restaurant.
Cook is neither of those, so she ignored it and kept eating.
Seconds later, Cook says an employee called out again, asking for a nurse or a doctor.
“I went ahead and stood up to see if I could help,” Cook recalls.
That’s when she noticed the woman lying on the floor.
Walker saw a crowd of people standing around her and an employee dialing 911.
“I heard someone saying that someone should perform CPR,” says Walker.
When Cook approached, she explained that she knew CPR. Cook says the woman lying on the floor looked gray.
“I knelt down next to her and there was no heartbeat, there was no breath,” Cook says.
After telling someone to call 911, Cook ripped the woman’s shirt and started chest compressions.
“Before I got to the breathing part, she came to,” says Cook. “I tried to talk to her because I wanted her to interact with me. I got that she was 25 and her name was Rachel.”
That’s when the crowd said to clear the area because the ambulance arrived. It all happened in less than five minutes.
EMTs came and took the woman to the hospital.
Since then, Cook has inquired to learn of the woman’s condition and hasn’t heard anything.
Eric Grossarth, an Idaho Falls Fire Department spokesman, is unable to verify the woman’s condition due to privacy laws. Hospitals can’t provide an update without the full name of the patient. Cook just wants to know if Rachel is OK.
“She’s so young, and I have no idea what happened to her,” says Cook.
She’s asking Rachel to provide an update on her status. Send an email to news@eastidahonews.com.