FORT LEE, Va. (June 7, 2012) -- To hear post exchange operations manager Trish Jones tell it, there couldn't have been a better response to a shopper in trouble than that which occurred May 19 at the store.
"Their reaction time to the customer was awesome," she said. "Their response was professional."
But Jones wasn't referring to an employee responding to the needs of a patron. She was recalling the feats of three advanced individual training Soldiers who took decisive actions when an elderly man suffered an apparent heart attack.
"They jumped right in as if they've been doing it all their lives, and they're very young girls so it was pretty amazing," Jones continued.
The young warriors -- 24-year-old Pvt. Shelli Cramer, 19-year old Pvt. Tania Gonzago and 25-year-old Pfc. Laura Lapre of Charlie Company, 262nd Quartermaster Battalion, 23rd QM Brigade -- were on pass and went to the Exchange to shop around the noon hour. That's when Cramer noticed a man, accompanied by a woman presumed to be his wife, was drooling from the mouth. Something didn't seem right, she said.
"As soon as I had that thought process, I saw him fall onto his right side," said Cramer. "It took me a second to kind of realize what was going on."
Both Cramer and Gonzaga, who also saw the man collapse, yelled for their battle buddy, Lapre, who they both know as a certified emergency medical technician.
"She came over and tended to him medically while we went and got the manager and called 911," said Cramer.
Lapre noticed the man trembled a bit and began vomiting. She immediately took action to protect him from further injury.
"When somebody is throwing up, you need to prop him up a little bit, otherwise they could choke on their own vomit," she said. "So, I got on my knees and knelt behind him."
Lapre said the man stopped vomiting for a few moments but resumed. So she turned him over once more to ease the process. During the procedure, she took note of something else.
"He was very, very clammy -- so he was hot," said Lapre. "I asked him if he was hot, and he responded that he was, so I helped him take his jacket off. It was a very, very warm jacket that he had on, and the wife had mentioned to Pvt. Cramer that he was always usually cold, but he was too hot (at that particular moment)."
The man eventually became more conscious and even began talking and joking around, said Lapre. Soon after, medical personnel from an ambulance unit arrived and took over.
"They came in with a stretcher and Pfc. Lapre had already taken some vitals and asked him all the right questions," said Gonzaga. "She already knew what to tell them."
In the meantime, Gonzaga said she acted as an intermediary with the man's seemingly distraught wife, consoling her and relaying information received from medical personnel. The unidentified man was taken to a hospital. The warriors said they were told that he is doing well but his medical status is unknown.
In hindsight, the women said they were glad to help. Cramer in particular said it was an honor to aid a veteran.
"It was ironic to help someone at this early point in our careers," she said. "Maybe it was the training or maybe it was just being more confident to be able to take charge. I'm not sure I would've been able to do that before I went to basic (training)."
Jones, who has worked at the Exchange for five years, said she has grown accustomed to seeing behaviors among AIT students typical of youth, but she said Cramer, Gonzaga and Lapre acted beyond their years.
"They were very responsive," she said. "I can't imagine an older adult doing it any better than they did."
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