Health Team

Creedmoor grocery workers help administer CPR

On June 16, employees at the Food Lion in Creedmoor found Nancy Castle, 56, unconscious on the dairy aisle.

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CREEDMOOR, N.C. — On June 16, employees at the Food Lion in Creedmoor found Nancy Castle, 56, unconscious on the dairy aisle.

Employee Doreen Sexton's CPR training from 16 years with the Girl Scouts kicked in. While someone called 911, she started with “A.B.C.”

“First of all, I knew I had to check her airway, check breathing, check her circulation,” she said.

Castle’s airway was clear, but she was not breathing and had no pulse.

“I had my friend in the meat department, Dennis, help with compressions, so I could do the breathing,” Sexton said.

“I think we maybe had a one minute response time,” paramedic Jessie Poole said.

Paramedics shocked Castle's heart back into rhythm, restored her breathing and took her to Durham Regional Hospital, where she was given an implantable cardiac defibrillator to prevent future problems.

Castle and husband, William, went back to the Food Lion recently to thank the employees.

“Miss Doreen over here and Dennis in the meat department, they really nailed it. I mean, they made me so proud,” store manager Shawn Brown said.

“Everything everybody did here just accentuates the fact that everybody needs to keep their CPR updated,” Castle said.

Castle knows that she was definitely in the right place at the right time.

The American Red Cross provides CPR training, as do many employers.

The American Heart Association recommends that people who don't have proper training only do chest compressions until help arrives. That will keep blood and oxygen moving through the body and brain.

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