Students honored for saving Oak Park High School gym teacher having heart attack

Oak Park — After entering the Oak Park High School's gym Friday, Alfred Kattola walked up to his two former students, embraced each and thanked them.

They saved his life in March.

"I don't have too much to say other than I love you guys," said Kattola, his voice low but full of emotion. "What more can a teacher say?"

It was the first time Kattola, a physical education teacher at the district's middle school — Oak Park Preparatory Academy — had seen Isreal Dubose, 17, and Correy Coleman, 16, since they and a group of others came to his aid when he had a heart attack nearly two months ago during a student-vs.-faculty basketball game in the same high school gym.

Kattola, Dubose and Coleman reunited in the gym Friday to talk about the moment their three lives were changed. Officials with the school district and Corewell Health, Michigan's largest health system, joined them.

They recounted how events unfolded. Kattola said he had been playing in the game before he began to feel strange. He took a seat and told a colleague something was wrong.

A fellow staff member, Coach Greg Carter, had him lie on the floor, propped his head up and began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR.

Meanwhile, Isreal and Correy were sitting in the gym's bleachers and watching the game. Isreal, a health sciences student at Oak Park High School, said they noticed something was wrong with Kattola as soon as he sat down.

She then watched as Carter worked to help Kattola as a crowd gathered around the teacher.

Isreal and Correy raced down to the gym floor and Kattola. Isreal said she saw Carter was at an awkward angle and not getting enough force behind his chest compressions. She told Carter to let her take over because she was positioned better, and he complied.

Both Isreal and Correy learned how to perform CPR and first aid in a health sciences class last December, officials said.

"We thought we might use it at some point in our lives, but not that soon," Correy said.

Isreal, who also works as a patient transporter at Corewell Health's hospital in Royal Oak, said she checked for a pulse and couldn't find one.

Assistant Principal Rona Glenn was also watching, she said. One of the school's automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, was brought from a nearby hallway to Isreal and Correy.

Isreal continued to perform chest compressions. Correy said she remembers telling her she could take over if she got tired.

Correy quickly placed the device's electrode pads in the appropriate locations on Kattola's chest, followed its directions and it was activated, sending an electric shock through the teacher's body.

Isreal said she checked for a pulse again and found one. Seconds later, paramedics were next to her and tended to the teacher before rushing him to a hospital.

Assistant Principal Glenn and other school officials joined Kattola to say how proud they were of Isreal and Correy. "They are truly amazing," Glenn said.

Isreal said she was flustered during the ordeal but kept focusing on one thing: She had to help Kattola.

"I just knew I had to do something," she said.

Correy said the same thing.

"It was a lot but I was just focused on the one thing," she said. "I was there to help (Mr. Kattola) and Izzy however I could."

Both girls said they want to go to college and study nursing with an eye toward eventually becoming doctors.

Isreal said she thinks about what happened a lot. "My baby brother has seizures and I always wanted to learn CPR to help him if he ever needed it," she said, choking back a sob.

The outcome could have been much different. Corewell Health officials said Michigan schools are not required to provide AEDs.

However, Oak Park Schools in 2022 struck a deal with Corewell Health's Children’s Student Heart Check program to obtain six of the devices and create an emergency response plan for each school.

"The district was replacing its AEDs, and they needed additional ones for some of their buildings," said Jennifer Shea, manager of Corewell Health Children’s Student Heart Check. "Two of the AEDS came here to the high school and one went to all of the other buildings in the district."

Shea said 31 teachers and faculty members were trained in CPR and how to use the AEDs. Furthermore, the program's staff and the schools came up with a plan for responding to cardiac emergencies in each of the district's buildings, she said.

"So if something like this were to happen, there would be a plan in place for how people should react," Shea said. "CPR, getting the AED, everything that ended up happening that day, which is incredible."

The health care system's Student Heart Check program has donated 79 AEDs to schools across Michigan, she said. It also helps schools create a cardiac response plan and ensures school staff know where AEDs are located and how to use them, similar to what Oak Park did.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last week signed a legislative package into law that requires any high school athletic coach in Michigan, private or public, to be trained in both CPR and the use of an AED starting in the 2025-26 school year. The certification is required to be issued by the American Red Cross, American Heart Association or a comparable group or institution approved by the Department of Education.

The new law also specifies that certain public school and private school personnel who performed CPR or used an AED as part of a cardiac emergency response plan would not be liable in a civil lawsuit for any damage resulting from trying to perform resuscitation.

cramirez@detroitnews.com

@CharlesERamirez