Off-Duty Georgia Gwinnett Officer Helps Shock Woman Back To Life

GWINNETT COUNTY, GA — Quick thinking by an off-duty Georgia Gwinnett College police officer helped save the life of a woman suffering cardiac arrest earlier this month in Winder.

Ashley Still was in the weight room at the Winder Barrow Brad Akins YMCA when an employee told her a woman watching her grandchildren swimming had collapsed near the pool.

“I immediately recognized it as full cardiac arrest,” said Still, a six-year veteran of the college’s police force. She stepped in to lead the resuscitation effort, using CPR and then the Y’s defibrillator to shock the woman’s heart into beating — and it worked.

Still, who lives in Monroe, also happens to be lead Georgia Gwinnett College’s certified trainer for automated external defibrillators like the one she used at the Y. That came in handy.

“The training definitely kicked in,” Still said to Jackie Todd of Georgia Gwinnett College. “So many times repetitively teaching about it — it just took over. Everything worked exactly how it’s supposed to.”

Still was quick to credit the efforts of the Winder YMCA’s employees in saving the woman’s life.

“The YMCA was fantastic in initiating the emergency response,” Still told Patch. “If it wasn’t for them starting everything, we wouldn’t be where we are now.”

For Still, the incident was personal: Her own father died of a heart attack.

“I get what loss is about,” Still said. “If I can prevent loss or hurt or sadness — whether it’s crime or health-related — that’s my ultimate goal.”

Still told Patch she later spoke with the woman’s daughter, who said her mother was “still in the hospital but doing well.”

Read the complete story on Georgia Gwinnett College’s website.