John Hartnett is teaching class with another chance at life.
Hartnett collapsed Aug. 29 during his psychology class. With the help of his students, he was all right by the time paramedics came.
According to the VCU Department of Psychology, Hartnett had a problem with his pacemaker but he was fine and came back teaching Aug. 31.
With the ordeal over, Robert D. Holsworth, the interim dean of the College of Humanities and Sciences, thanked the students who helped save their professor’s life.
“This is an incident that we hope will never happen again,” Holsworth said. “Just the response alone was really a testimony to some of the attributes students bring to student life.”
Some of the students were trained as EMTs, or emergency medical technicians, who didn’t panic and helped provide assistance. Other students were more concerned about whether Hartnett would be okay.
“It was shocking because I didn’t expect it,” said Kelsey Kampschror, a first-year student. “When it happened, I basically froze up. It was more like I didn’t really know what to do.”
There is a level of concern from students whenever a professor is unable to continue a class because of a medical situation.
Sophomore Derek Wyrick said, “We were sitting here, and he was talking to us and we were taking notes, and all of a sudden, we heard him say “oomph” and he was down.”
Holsworth said the collective efforts of students, the police and the hospital saved the day.
Holsworth said, “[The students] were able to contact the ambulance and Hartnett was brought down to the hospital for observation.” “When he got down to the hospital, he was all better.”
Fortunately, the incident turned out to be one that made no long-term impact on the students or Hartnett.
“I was really worried but it was a relief that he’s okay,” Kampschror said. “I was worried that he wouldn’t come back, but I’m glad he’s back”
“I think everyone did a good job in handling the situation,” Wyrick said.
Holsworth said that a situation like this shows that the students have an extraordinarily wide range of skills and experiences.
“Actually, this just shows once again the capacity of our students to deal with crucial situations as they arise in a very clearheaded way,” he said.