Quick action on the part of some Oak Harbor School District staff helped saved the life of a North Whidbey Lions Club member.

The man was visiting Oak Harbor High School Thursday picking up fliers for an upcoming car show from the school’s art department when he started to feel unwell and collapsed.

School nurse Kim Hitt was the first on scene, followed soon after by dean Pat Felger, substitute teacher Race Finnegan, the school resource officer Nathan Padrta as well as another staff member who preferred to remain unidentified.

They used a defibrillator machine on the man and administered CPR until paramedics arrived.

The Whidbey News-Times was unable to reach the man and is not naming him. He was transported to Skagit Valley Hospital where he was listed in critical condition.

The high school has three or four automated external defibrillator machines installed in different locations around the high school, said Robert May, paramedic for Whidbey General Hospital Emergency Medical Services.

This portable device checks the heart rhythm and can send an electric shock to the heart to restore a normal rhythm. It’s used to treat sudden cardiac arrest.

May said he couldn’t comment on what happened, but he said in a situation like this one seconds and minutes count. He praised the school district for having a top-notch training program for its staff.

“In my opinion, the Oak Harbor School District has 100-percent commitment to safety to students and employees,” he said.

May said he’d like to see everyone on the island trained — that’s what makes a resilient community.

By state law, all students are required to receive this training by graduation, and the high school in conjunction with local agencies train ninth graders on how to use a defibrillator and do CPR.

The school district requires nurses, high school trainers, coaches, bus and van drivers and all CTE instructors to receive CPR and defibrillator training, said school district spokeswoman Kellie Tormey.

The middle schools also have the AED machines “but we would like to have funding to buy more.”