Julie Frey had finished the Monroe County YMCA’s Fall Festival 5K only minutes before she heard the cries for help.

YMCA fitness director Nancy Parker was yelling for an ambulance. Frey saw that there were many obstacles for the ambulance to get through—people, tables and the giant timing clock—to reach the man in need. She ran over to help.

“It was the fastest I ran all day,” Frey said.

When she arrived, there was a man lying on his back near the finish line.

“His chest was heaving, and I wasn’t worried. I figured he had just overexerted himself. It happens a lot. So I elevated his feet and waited for the ambulance,” she said.

But the situation quickly worsened.

“I saw the change. The color drained from his face, and he stopped breathing. I checked his pulse but didn’t expect to find one. I lifted his shirt and started compressions.”

Frey is a part-time employee of the IU Department of Kinesiology and works full time for Internal Medicine Associates in Bloomington. She learned cardio-pulmonary resuscitation long ago and had recently renewed her CPR certification. She had never used CPR outside of a hospital surrounded by doctors and other medical staff.

“My heart rate was definitely up,” Frey said. “I think it helped that I didn’t know him. I got to compression number 26 on the second set when he woke up. He seemed pretty lucid and with-it considering what he had been through.”

According to Frey, the man was later diagnosed with a heart condition that people don’t usually survive once they lose their pulse.

The incident demonstrates how important it is for people to be trained in CPR.

“There were probably a couple other people there who knew CPR. I was just the first one on the scene,” Frey said.

After the ambulance took the man away, Frey used her adrenaline rush to run the 10K, finishing fourth in her age division.

“It was a good thing to run and burn off some adrenaline. I ran the first couple miles a little faster than normal.”

It is difficult to estimate how often community members like Frey use CPR skills in an emergency situation. According to the American Heart Association, no single agency keeps track of CPR use on a national level, so there are no reliable national statistics on the subject. However, some community studies illustrate the impact of CPR training.

For example, in Seattle CPR training is common and defibrillators are often readily available.

The survival rate of witnessed heart attacks is about 30 percent. In New York City, it is uncommon for bystanders to use CPR, and it often takes longer to get a defibrillator to the victim. Survival rates there average 1 to 2 percent.

John Pedersen, program director for risk management at IUB’s Division of Recreational Sports, tracks life-threatening incidents occurring in campus recreational facilities.

“It is hard to tell just how much lay people use CPR in the real world—but when it is used and saves a life, it is priceless. Our staff has used it at least five times in the 12 years I’ve been employed with the division,” he said.