On Wednesday, September 7, student Stefano Vescio saved a woman’s life at a local post office. Vescio, a student in Winter Park High School’s Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program, saw the woman and her boyfriend at the post office. To him, it appeared that the couple was just hugging, but when he overheard the boyfriend on the phone with emergency services, he realized that the woman needed help. 

Vescio identified a mechanism wound on the woman’s chest, saw that she was in and out of consciousness, and realized that she needed first aid. Once Vescio got consent, he put pressure on the wound and eventually got the bleeding to stop. Vescio says that emergency services arrived on the scene about 10 minutes after the call was made. Vescio says that he was only there by chance, and that he’s thankful he was. 

When asked where he learned all of this, Vescio said that he was in an after school club for the ROTC program. The club last year specialized in getting students certifications such as Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s program You Are Help Until Help Arrives. They also received First Aid and CPR/ AED certifications. These program certifications are being implemented in the ROTC 2022-2023 curriculum. 

Vescio advises others in the same situation to help in any way you can. He says that the feeling of stress is overwhelming, but that you shouldn’t let it get in the way of you helping someone else. His first piece of advice is to ignore what TV says; it does not accurately portray the situation. If you’re certified, do what you’ve been trained to do. If you’re not certified, find someone who is and do whatever they tell you to do. His final piece of advice is to make sure that others aren’t crowding around the situation and try to stay calm.