Canyon View High student, 2 law enforcement officers recognized for helping save school bus driver’s life

Written by Jeff Richards
May 24, 2023

CEDAR CITY — A Canyon View High School junior has been recognized for her prompt rescue efforts that helped save the life of a school bus driver.

L-R: Canyon View High School student Lindsay Abbott, bus driver Sarah Pine and Southwest Tech faculty member Charlie Gray, Cedar City, Utah, May 22, 2023 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Lindsay Abbott, 16, received a set of EMS challenge coins at an awards ceremony held at Southwest Technical College in Cedar City on Monday evening. Also receiving the special coins were Enoch Police officer Devin Kwiatkowski and Iron County Sheriff’s deputy Mary Menke. All three were commended for their actions in responding to an incident that happened near Enoch Elementary School around noon on March 30.

As previously reported, the bus driver had just left the school on her regular route to take home a group of morning kindergartners when she experienced a medical event that caused her to lose consciousness.

Abbott was driving in her car right behind the bus as it went off the road and crashed into a fence. Abbott and her freshman brother were on their way back to Canyon View High School after having gone home for lunch. 

With the assistance of another witness, Abbott was able to get the unresponsive driver unbuckled and out of her seat, out of the bus and onto the flat ground. It was in those moments that her training kicked in, she later recalled.

“I knew exactly what to do, what steps to take. I had to do it,” Abbott said. 

Bus driver Sarah Pine hugs Cassie Tiede and Lindsay Abbott as audience applauds during Iron County School District board meeting, Cedar City, Utah, May 16, 2023 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

“If you didn’t know any better … you would have guessed that she had a checklist in front of her and she was going down through the checklist and making sure she did everything,” Iron County School District transportation supervisor John Webster said of Abbott during a school board meeting the previous week, on May 16.

“I don’t even think she remembers everything that she thought or what was going through her mind,” Webster added. “But I know what was going through her soul and (that) was there’s somebody that’s here that needs help. And she was the one that was there to help them.”

Southwest Technical College faculty member and EMT Charlie Gray noted after Monday’s ceremony that Abbott had just barely reviewed her CPR training in class a few days prior to the incident.

Neither Abbott nor the other witness, Cassie Tiede, was able to find a pulse, so Abbott immediately began doing chest compressions on the driver.

Additional help came within minutes, as Kwiatkowski and Menke both arrived and began assisting in the rescue efforts, including applying a defibrillator to try to restore the driver’s heartbeat back into a normal rhythm. 

A short time later, after being stabilized by a Gold Cross Ambulance crew, the driver was transported to Cedar City Hospital and from there to St. George Regional Hospital.

The driver, who was later identified by school district officials as 35-year-old Sarah Pine, has since recovered and now has a defibrillator device implanted in her chest to help regulate her heart’s rhythm. Pine was present at the May 16 school board meeting as well as at Monday’s award ceremony, expressing her gratitude toward her rescuers at both events.

Dr. Tanner Miles of Cedar City Hospital’s emergency department speaks during award ceremony recognizing Canyon View High School student Lindsay Abbott and two law enforcement officers for their lifesaving actions, Cedar City, Utah, May 22, 2023 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

The estimated survival rate for those experiencing out-of-hospital cardiac events involving CPR is between 5% and 10%, health care officials noted on Monday.

“When Sarah went into cardiac arrest the morning of March 30, the odds were not in her favor,” stated Dr. Tanner Miles of Cedar City Hospital’s emergency department. “Thanks to the efforts of those being honored here tonight, her odds slowly but surely improved, due to the early CPR, a shockable initial cardiac rhythm and early defibrillation.”

By the time Pine arrived at Cedar City Hospital, she once again had a pulse, Miles added.

“Seldom do we see patients like Sarah recover, to be able to live a normal life,” noted John Miller, regional supervisor for Gold Cross Ambulance.

 “I just want to compliment her for her forward thinking,” Miller added. “In talking with her this morning, she takes the time to teach all of those kindergartners how to open the door (of the bus) and how to use the radio to call.” 

Also speaking during Monday’s ceremony were Southwest Tech President Brennan Wood and Enoch Mayor Geoffrey Chesnut.

Wood, quoting John Wayne, said, “Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.”

Chesnut waxed philosophical during his remarks.

“Remember, one day you will die,” he said. “And how will that death be? And what will you have contributed? How many lives will have been impacted for the better because of the life you’ve lived?” 

L-R: Southwest Tech faculty member and EMT Charlie Gray, Canyon View High School student Lindsay Abbott, bus driver Sarah Pine, Iron County Sheriff’s Deputy Mary Menke, Iron County Sheriff Ken Carpenter, Enoch Police Officer Devin Kwiatkowski and Enoch Police Chief Jackson Ames, Cedar City, Utah, May 22, 2023 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Cyndi Wallace, chief nursing officer at Cedar City Hospital, noted that Monday’s recognition ceremony coincided with the beginning of EMS Week 2023, which has the theme, “Where Emergency Care Begins.”

Earlier, Dr. Miles had closed his remarks by emphasizing the importance of prompt CPR.

“I want to close by reiterating the importance of what Lindsay, Deputy Menke and Officer Kwiatkowski did,” Miles said. “Without adequate vascular perfusion, brain and heart cells begin to experience irreparable damage almost immediately.”

Miles recommended that anyone who has never taken CPR training consider doing so. 

“It’s a simple skill to learn and as evidenced here tonight, may ultimately be what saves someone’s life,” he said.

Meanwhile, Abbott plans to continue taking medical classes at Southwest Tech, but said she’s decided to switch to learning to become an EMT instead of a certified nursing assistant. She said she hopes that by sharing her story, others in the community will be inspired to learn how to do CPR.

“I think that more people should learn CPR because it saves lives,” she told Cedar City News shortly after Monday’s ceremony. “I mean, Sarah, she’s alive because of CPR and early defibrillation. And, if you take those steps to learn CPR, I think that more people would have a better chance of survival than if nothing would happen at all.”

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeff Richards, a native of Salt Lake City with family roots in Panguitch, lived in Moab for 20 years before joining St. George News in 2017. Jeff is a longtime journalist and secondary school teacher. He and his wife Penny are the parents of five daughters. They also have three young grandsons. Jeff and his family enjoy swimming, camping, sightseeing, reading, and taking pictures.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @stgnews@moabjeff@stgnewssports

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