Spokane Valley Best Buy cashier performs CPR on customer Thanksgiving night
SPOKANE, Wash. — It’s a night one Spokane Valley woman won’t forget — working her first Black Friday.
On Thanksgiving night, Kayla Palmer, who had only been on her third shift at Best Buy, jumped to action when an older gentleman went into distress.
On one of the busiest holiday shopping days, Palmer was working at the register when an older gentleman came up to pay. He started leaning on the counter and complained about feeling dizzy.
So she and her coworker Martha Carter got him a wheelchair.
“I got on the radio and said, ‘Ray, we need a wheelchair, he’s going to faint,” said Palmer.
He then started sweating and turned pale, according to Best Buy.
“At that point, his hand starts shaking, drops his card, and then he goes unresponsive so I go to feel his pulse on his throat and I feel the other side and feel no pulse,” said Palmer.
Palmer then “sprang to action” and assessed his condition. She began CPR on him and after about a minute, he started to breathe again.
“It all happened so fast,” Palmer said. “I was just surprised by how clear it was, and how quickly it came to me what I needed to do.”
Palmer also works as an emergency technician and is going to school to be a nurse. She has performed CPR a few times before while working in the ER.
Best Buy said Palmer joined the team just a few weeks ago after her husband persuaded her to work there. She was only scheduled to work until 9 p.m., but asked to stay late.
“It was all such a coincidence,” Palmer said.
The incident happened about a half an hour later and out of seven registers, he happened to go to Palmer’s.
General Manager Tracy Mourar saw the incident happen.
“There was no hesitation at all,” Mourar said. “If anybody else would have been there, I think the outcome could have been very different. Nobody else could have reacted as fast as she did.”
Palmer says she wasn’t alone in helping the man. Her coworker Martha helped, as well.
Palmer’s husband, Sean, noticed all the flashing lights at the front of the store. He wasn’t surprised to find Kayla in the middle of it when he went to check what was going on.
“Honestly, I knew if something like that was going to happen, she’d just jump right in,” he said.
Sean told Kayla working in retail on Black Friday would be crazy, but not to the extent he thought.
“I told her it was going to be crazy, he said. “But, I didn’t think it was going to be that crazy.”
Best Buy said they are looking for the gentleman in hopes to connect with him and gift him some items he wasn’t able to buy that night.
The Spokane Valley Fire Department is offering free CPR classes for those interested. CLICK HERE for more information.
COPYRIGHT 2023 BY KXLY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
