Keep Pressure On The Wound, Paramedics told Jeanna Sanderson-Easterling - CNA Heroes on CNA-TV
Channel: CNA TV - NAHCA Broadcasting Network
Date: 08/02/2020

Keep Pressure On The Wound, Paramedics told Jeanna Sanderson-Easterling - CNA Heroes on CNA-TV

It was a fall Sunday, late morning in November, 2019 in Lincoln, Nebraska.  Jeanna Sanderson-Easterling had arrived home shortly before noon.  There is a skate park, Peter Pan Park, directly across from her house and she frequently glances at the activities in the park when she is outside.  Today was no different.

Jeanna got out of her car and glanced over to see a group of teenage boys standing around a boy on the ground who struggled to get up, but then fell back down to the ground.  She didn’t think twice about what to do.  Luckily Jeanna had gone back to school and gotten her CNA about a year before.

Jeanna said, “I didn’t question myself, I didn’t hesitate. I went for it. I went over there.”  Her CNA training included first aid and CPR, although she had never had to use it…until now.
As Jeanna ran to the teenager, blood soaked his pants and ran onto the sidewalk, his lips had turned a light blue and Jeanna knew the wound was close to the femoral artery.  Jeanna later learned he had been riding a bike up and down the ramps when he lost control and fell, the bike handlebars gouging the inside of his right leg.


She told the boys she was a certified nurse assistant and was there to help. She said a prayer out loud and asked the wounded boy his name, his age.

Julian Estrada, he said. Fifteen years old.  

She knew the boy was seriously wounded, Julian’s friends had already called 911.  She bent down to her knees and held pressure on the wound, barehanded.  Jeanna tried to keep Julian talking as he drifted in and out of consciousness.  “I just kept on reassuring him that everything would be fine, help was on the way,” she said.

After hearing the sirens in the distance, help had arrived.  The paramedics told Jeanna to keep pressure on the wound while they applied a tourniquet, then got Julian on the stretcher.  Julian looked at her then, told her he was having trouble breathing. That scared her the most, she said.

Jeanna went back to her house after the ambulance left. She changed her blood-soaked clothes and headed for the hospital.

“I had to,” she said. “I knew I had to come here. I couldn’t go to bed not knowing if he was going to make it or not.”

At the emergency room, she learned his family was with the chaplain.

“Right then and there my heart broke,” she said. “I assumed the worst.”
But a police officer who’d been at the park saw her and told Julian’s family. One of Julian’s brothers came out to get her.

They waited together until Julian, a sophomore at Northeast High School with his twin brother, came out of surgery.
The handlebars had hit a vein but had narrowly missed the femoral artery. Doctors used a portion of another vein to repair the broken one. They’d given him 20 units of blood. He had a breathing tube and was in a medically induced coma. But he was expected to live.
Jeanna stayed. She watched Julian while his mom slept. About 3:30 a.m., he started to wake up.

He motioned for his phone, got on Snapchat and texted a message, motioning Jeanna to his bedside.
“He texted me, ‘Thank you for saving my life,’” she said. Then he asked for a hug.
Doctors told Julian’s mom that people don't usually survive such injuries, that the actions of the stranger had likely saved Julian's life.
Later on Monday, as his condition improved, doctors removed the breathing tube. Julian began talking. He was able to get out of bed and walk. He wanted a Sprite. A steady stream of friends came by.
“Today, he’s just like my old son,” Julian’s mother said.
With one difference.
“Julian has a guardian angel," she said. "And her name is Jeanna.”

Jeanna Sanderson-Easterling, you are such great example for others to live by.  As a mother, I know the magnitude of your actions, you saved a young man’s life, giving him back to his mother and his family.  Thank you for your courage and generosity.
Everyone please join me today in honoring Jeanna Sanderson-Easterling, CNA Hero!