SEQUIM — Shawnta Henry surprised herself when she helped save a man’s life.
The games room assistant and Jill-of-all-trades at the Sequim Boys & Girls Club was going to Walmart with her younger sister Jasmine Kirchan and their mom Nicole after work on Feb. 26. Outside, they saw coworker Cory Eksteen waving them down.
“She asked if we had Narcan, and we didn’t, and she was on the phone with 911, and I was watching (a family member) try to do CPR,” said Henry, 25.
“She wasn’t doing it long enough, and out of nowhere in my head, I decided to tell her I had CPR training and if she wanted, I could take over and do it.”
Henry continued compressions for about 15 minutes before an ambulance arrived.
As the man was loaded into the ambulance, she heard from officials that he had a heartbeat, but she didn’t receive a follow-up on his status until earlier this month. Clallam County Fire District 3 staff told her the man was treated at Olympic Medical Center’s emergency room for a few hours and then discharged.
Battalion Chief Chris Turner said CPR helps bridge the gap for a patient between a cardiac event and death.
“Until we can get definitive care, early CPR is needed,” he said.
Henry and staffers at the Boys & Girls Club are all CPR certified through the club, which enlists the fire district to bring in a certified trainer periodically. Another session will be offered in April.
Turner said the fire district offers community CPR classes and larger groups can schedule in advance. Classes can be scheduled by calling 360-683-4242.
Instinct to help
Henry said she’s not usually the type of person to just jump into a situation.
“For some reason that day, my body was saying, ‘You know how to do this. Go ahead and take over for her,’” she said.
She also surprised herself by asking to help.
“My mouth started moving before I was even thinking,” Henry said.
Once the man was taken to the hospital, Henry phoned the Sequim club’s unit director, Tessa Jackson, to give her a message: “Thank you for my training,” she said.
During the situation, Jasmine helped wave down paramedics and Nicole helped family members as Henry continued CPR.
“I was very proud of her,” Nicole said. “She was calm and collected.”
Jackson said CPR has not been used in the Sequim club during her 11-year tenure, but they have all staff do the training as a precaution. She, too, was proud of Henry for helping.
“Knowing her shyness, that was very outside of the box for her to do,” Jackson said.
To acknowledge Henry, Jackson bought her a bouquet, and they recognized her in front of club members.
‘The club is my home’
Henry started going to the Sequim Boys & Girls Club in first grade. She went to Greywolf Elementary, Sequim Middle School and Sequim High School and has been working at the club for three years.
“The club is my home,” Henry said. “It’s been my home since I started in first grade. I’ve grown up here.”
She said she also owes a lot to three people for “becoming the adult I am today,” including Jackson and former staffers Luke Kisena and Emily Leger-Foth.
In particular, she said they helped her deal with “normal teenage drama.”
“They were the ones pulling me aside and talking to me about it,” Henry said.
Leger-Foth helped her in high school and as an adult academically, while Kisena checked in on her to make sure she was on the right path with friends.
Jackson said she’s come to rely on Henry.
“For every event that I put on here at the club, the Daddy Daughter Dance, the Lego Bingo, the Easter event, every one of them, she’s here,” Jackson said.
Henry also fills in around the club as needed.
“I go where Tessa needs me,” she said.
Henry said the club is “a place where kids know they can go and talk to someone if they need someone other than their parents to talk to, to understand them.”
“It’s also a safe place to go and hang out, and it’s like another home,” she said.
For more information about the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula, visit bgc-op.org.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. He can be reached by email at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com.
