Robyn Morgan, Ariana Stemple, and Cori Holloway became friends working together at St. Joseph Hospital in Denver, Colorado. These friends are bonded for life after a shopping trip at Murdoch’s in Grand Junction this past September.
Morgan, leader of medical imaging at Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver, wasn’t feeling well shopping, and before she knew it, she was on the ground unconscious. Holloway and Stemple, both cardiac nurses, rushed over instinctively, performing CPR.
Daily Nurse proudly names Ariana Stemple and Cori Holloway the Nurses of the Week. Their swift reaction to Morgan’s medical emergency saved her life.
“Every minute that a patient in cardiac arrest goes without getting CPR, their chances of survival decrease by about 10% every minute. So having bystanders out in the community performing that CPR to get patients to the hospital is the only way to improve survival and outcomes,” says Jamie Hogan, chest pain coordinator at Saint Joseph Hospital.
Morgan says she wasn’t feeling well and was looking for a place to sit down. And that’s her last memory of what happened.
Morgan had no pulse, and both nurses had never performed CPR outside of the hospital, so the first time they performed CPR, it was on their friend.
That was something Morgan had long teased them about.
They jumped into action. And it paid off. CPR kept Morgan alive until EMS arrived to take her to the hospital. Both Holloway and Stemple said they were relieved they were close by when it happened so they could help.
“It’s interesting that I’ve given them a hard time for that for so long, and then the first time they do CPR is on me,” Morgan says.
After getting to the hospital, Morgan learned that she had gone into cardiac arrest and suffered a skull fracture when she fell and hit her head. The three nurses save lives every day at her work, but Morgan never expected her own life would need saving.
The actions of Stemple and Holloway forged their friendship into a permanent lifelong bond.
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