Since a very young age, Phillip Ellison knew he wanted to become an emergency medical technician. When he was 13 years old, he began volunteering for the Baltimore City Recreation and Parks Department (BCRP) at Cherry Hill Splash Park pool with the goal of wearing the red and white shirt of a lifeguard. By the next year he was hired as a pool attendant and began training in CPR and AED, bringing him that much closer to his dreams. Now, 16 years old and a student at Vivian T. Thomas Medical Arts Academy, Phillip is already being hailed as hero after saving the life of a 5-year-old boy.
On Saturday, June 6, Phillip was walking to his aunt’s house in his neighborhood of Cherry Hill when he saw a young boy on a bicycle get struck by a dirt bike rider. After witnessing the hit and run, the future EMT jumped into action to help the severely injured boy who had stopped breathing. As a crowd formed around them, Phillip’s training kicked in and he began to perform CPR on the boy in the middle of Round Street. After waiting 45 minutes for the ambulance with paramedics to arrive, the boy was transported to the hospital where he remained in critical condition.
Today the boy is doing well and Phillip is being regarded as a hero by his family, friends and community. “We are very proud, but not surprised. We train first responders and provide constant in-service trainings to prepare them for emergencies,” says Darryl Sutton, aquatics director for BCRP. “Our pool attendants wear blue shirts and Phillip always talked about one day becoming a lifeguard and getting to wear that red and white shirt. Turns out that red and white were only colors because as a pool attendant, Phillip was ready.
“Phillip and countless others give us their summers and in exchange we give them skills for a lifetime,” Sutton continues. “Many of our staff go on to become firemen, police, teachers, etc. and touch the community in ways one could never imagine. When I think about Phillip and his accomplishment at his young age, I feel very proud to work, train and interact within the city of Baltimore.”
On June 10, at City Hall in front of his family and community, Phillip was recognized for his heroism by Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. “After a 5-year old boy was hit by a dirt bike earlier this week, this brave young man leapt into the fray,” Mayor Rawlings-Blake said before presenting Phillip with his Mayoral Citation. “Because of his training — and that is a testament to the Department of Recreation and Parks and the Aquatics Division — and because of his character, he knew exactly what to do…When paramedics arrived at the scene, it was because of Phillip’s heroism that the boy was alive.”
The Value of CPR
Phillip’s speedy reaction to perform CPR, although instinctual to him, is nothing to overlook. According to the American Heart Association, only 32 percent of cardiac arrest victims get CPR from a bystander. It is also reported that 70 percent of Americans feel helpless to act during cardiac emergency because they either do not know how to administer CPR or their training has significantly lapsed. These are especially alarming statistics considering that effective bystander CPR provided immediately after cardiac arrest can double or triple a victim’s chance of survival.
“You never know when you may be the difference between life and death. Just thinking about not having the skillset to try is scary,” says Sutton. “We work in an industry where the penalty for error can lead to death. When kids think about going to the pool, they only think about diving, swimming and fun times. We think about prevention, safety and people returning home in the same condition or better after having an enjoyable experience. Accidents happen and when they do, we have to be ready; we are first responders. That’s why we train, we observe and we react. For the community, learning CPR is a great idea and the life you save is likely to be a family member, a friend or in Phillip’s case, a neighbor.”
Catrina Belt is an Editorial Intern for Parks & Recreation magazine.