Quick Acting Nurses Help Save Plainfield Teen's Life

Photo: Ruth Brick, Christian Elmore and Susan Wolf pose for a photo.

Submitted by Plainfield School District 202

Don’t call them heroes. Plainfield High School – Central Campus nurses Susan Wolf and Ruth Brick insist they’re just doing their jobs.

PHSCC sophomore Christian Elmore might disagree, since Brick and Wolf may have saved his life.

On April 12, 2015, while in study hall Elmore suddenly felt a sharp pain in his left side as he talked to a teacher. His teacher told him to get a drink of water to help alleviate the pain, but it only got worse. “I felt like I couldn’t breathe,” said the tall, thin young man.

As he went to the nurse’s office, “I felt like my lung was collapsing again,” he said.

It turns out Elmore went through this same thing about a year ago on the other side of his body, so he had an idea of what was happening. He had “blebs” – tiny sacs of air attached to the outside of a lung that can pop and tear the lung tissue, causing the lung to deflate.

He told Wolf and Brick that he couldn’t breathe. “I thought I was going to die. I felt like I was choking.”

The veteran nurses said they knew what was happening. Blebs tend to affect tall, thin young adults, they both said.

“I turned to Ruth and said, ‘Do you think…?’ ” Wolf said.

“Yes,” Brick replied, and immediately called 911. Brick has been a nurse for 27 years, including 10 for District 202 (of which four have been at PHSCC). She said she has seen people with similar symptoms.

“Being a nurse, you’re trained to take care of emergencies,” said Wolf, who has been a nurse for 26 years, including 10 at PHSCC.

“We’re kind of set up like a triage station,” Brick said. “This is just part of being a nurse.”

“We deal with life and death all the time,” Wolf added, deflecting any praise.

Still, Elmore had a few simple, sincere words for the dynamic nursing duo.

“Thank you,” he said. “I don’t know what would have happened if they weren’t there.”