First Aid Corps

Nathan Cruz of Spring Township wears many hats.

He’s a senior at Wilson High School, a busboy at the Circle S Ranch House Restaurant, and now, you can add the title lifesaver.

“I just want to help people, that’s the only reason why I’m doing the training I’m doing,” Nathan said.

Nathan is referring to the training he receives for his other career as a member of the Western Berks Fire Department.

The training came in handy while working at the restaurant this weekend.

A wheelchair-bound senior citizen started choking on her meal and then blacked out.

Though Nathan had only trained performing CPR on mannequins, he responded quickly and professionally.

He performed the Heimlich Maneuver then administered CPR and it worked.

Nathan’s coworkers and fellow firefighters could not be prouder.

“He’s gone above and beyond the training what we asked for in taking the Emergency Medical Technician class and, just in general, [Nathan] is an upstanding citizen of the community,” Western Berks Fire Commissioner Jeffrey Weidner said.

The soft-spoken 18-year-old insists he is no hero, but don’t tell that to his mom.

“I know better. He’s a complete hero in my eyes,” Nathan’s mom Pamela Cruz said.

The woman Nathan rescued is recovering in Reading Hospital. Her family wanted tell Nathan two things: he is a hero and thank you.

Just after noon, a 7-year-old boy was celebrating at a holiday party with his classmates at the Josiah Quincy Elementary School in Boston, said Matthew Wilder, spokesman for the Boston public schools.

Suddenly, he became unresponsive and went into cardiac arrest, Wilder said. It is unclear what triggered the problem.

School nurses immediately rushed to the classroom where the party was taking place and began performing CPR on the boy, Wilder said.

They also used a defibrillator.

Three minutes later, emergency medical technicians arrived and found the boy was not breathing and had no pulse. Paramedics arrived on the scene a few minutes later.

Emergency workers managed to revive the child, but he was not breathing on his own when they transported him across the street to Tufts Medical Center, according to emergency officials.

“The school nurse really should be praised,” said Jennifer Mehigan, spokeswoman for Boston Emergency Medical Services. “Those quick actions are really what save someone’s life.”

He is still listed as in critical condition.