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An IKE Sailor was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal (NAM) aboard the Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN69) on October 20, 2022.
Cmdr. Justin Conroy, IKE’s Intelligence Officer, received the NAM for saving a civilian’s life by performing CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) utilizing the medical training he received aboard IKE.
During the time of the incident Conroy and his family were attending the East Carolina vs. Navy football game in Greenville, North Carolina on September 24, 2022. As he was returning to his room from the hotel lobby he heard a frantic woman asking the hotel staff if there was an AED (automatic external defibrillator) in the hotel anywhere. “The staff did not seem to know what an AED was and did not seem to understand the nature of what was being asked,” said Conroy.
The woman began to explain that there was a man on the fourth floor having a major heart attack. When Conroy heard this, ran upstairs to the fourth floor. “I had made the decision that if there was something I could do to help in this situation, I was going to do it,” said Conroy, “I started to mentally prepare and I began to go over the CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) steps in my mind as I was climbing the stairs.”
Conroy arrived on the fourth floor where he saw the man’s wife and another man that was already performing CPR on the victim. Conroy would later find out that the man already performing CPR was a fellow Sailor, Capt. Cole Brian, Director of Pediatrics at Navy Medical Center Portsmouth.
Conroy entered the room ready to assist. After Brian confirmed that Conroy was trained in CPR Conroy got into the waiting position to take over. It was clear that Brian was exhausted. At that point in time the victim was still totally unresponsive.
“We performed chest compressions in rotation for about 20 minutes. Time was moving very fast because of the adrenaline that goes through you. We continued chest compressions until first responders showed up,” said Conroy.
When the first responders arrived Conroy continued administering CPR until they were completely ready to take over and said the words ‘I am relieving you’. These steps are an important part of performing CPR and it was clear that Conroy had the knowledge and instincts to perform because of the medical training he has received from his military career.
“Hey, I’ve got it, I’m ready to take over,” said a first responder according to Conroy. They attached a medical breathing bag and other various attachments to the victim and continued to render aid.
Conroy stayed in the hallway for a minute to retain get his composure together and process what happened.
Both Conroy and Brian remained very concerned for man. “When he left with the EMTs, he had a very weak pulse, but he had a pulse. If we weren’t there to initially provide CPR, I don’t know if he would have made it,” said Conroy “he was still alive when he left, but we were still concerned.”
“It’s all super surreal. One minute you are just hanging out on a Sunday morning getting coffee and you have absolutely no idea what’s going to happen. And when that ‘something’ does happen, you just respond,” said Conroy, “I had spent a lot of my career in Navy Special Warfare. There was a Sergeant Major in the regiment that what drill into us to always ‘do something’. His words were in the back of my mind, ‘do something’, and that’s what I did.”
Conroy attributes his ability to render proper and affective aid that day to the CPR training he has received on IKE.
“Questions are firing in your mind. Is the scene safe? Can I help this person? If I can help, then I will help, but I need to do it responsibly and I need to do it effectively,” said Conroy, “I was thinking ‘use your training, use your training’. Proper hand placement and proper compressions. Perform good compressions and just keep going. I wanted to do a good job for this man. As I'm doing my compressions I told the man ‘come on, brother, you're going to make it, you're going to be okay. Let's go. I wanted do a good job for this man and more importantly, do a good job for his wife who was watching all of this happen.”
For his heroism, Conroy was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal during a ceremony aboard IKE on October 20, 2022. “Thank you for being on point, quickly responding, and doing the right thing,” said Capt. Paul Campaigna, IKE’s Commanding Officer, during the ceremony.
The actions of Cmdr. Conroy on this day is a shining example of why medical training is a fundamental and crucial aspect of being a Sailor.
“I've done tactical combat casualty care since 2008 and the training I’ve received on IKE has allowed me to keep those skills sharp. Ultimately, at the end of the day, you never know when you're going to have to use your training. If I'm going to sit through training, I'm going to make it valuable, and I'm going to pay attention, because I'm not going to waste my time. I want to be able to respond when I’m needed,” said Conroy.
Every training session we undergo as Sailors here on IKE must be treated with the upmost attention and respect, because as we have learned, you never know when you will need to use it and potentially save a life.
| Date Taken: | 10.20.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 12.31.2022 11:21 |
| Story ID: | 435342 |
| Location: | PORTSMOUTH, VIRGINIA, US |
| Hometown: | NORFOLK, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 29 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, HIS SHIPBOARD TRAINING SAVED A LIFE, by PO2 Jorge LeBaron, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
