Geneva High School athletic trainer saves student's life at homecoming dance

GENEVA, Ill. (WLS) -- A Geneva High School athletic trainer saved a student's life at the homecoming dance, the school said.

School officials said Nicole Collins had volunteered to chaperone the homecoming dance on Sept. 17. At the dance, a 17-year-old senior collapsed and stopped breathing while dancing in the school gym.

Collins said she was outside around 9 p.m., supervising students, when the music stopped suddenly. She went inside and saw a school administrator carrying the student, and jumped into action.

"In my mind, I was doing my job. If I had not been there, the outcome would have been much different," she said.

Collins began CPR and chest compressions, and called for the administrator to get a defibrillator. A Geneva police officer at the dance called an ambulance.

"I did two rounds of CPR and in the second round, she started coughing and came to," she said.

The student was taken to Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital in Geneva where it was discovered she had suffered a seizure. Her father said he was grateful the school has trained staff in CPR so that they were able to help her during her medical emergency.