9-year-old boy saves sister from drowning using CPR learned from television

By Amina Khan, Los Angeles Times
April 19, 2011, 11:58 a.m.
A 9-year-old boy saved his drowning sister by administering CPR -- which, he says, he learned by watching television.

Tristin Saghin and his family were visiting his grandmother in Mesa, Ariz., when his grandmother and mother suddenly realized that the 2-year-old girl had gone missing. They ran outside and found her floating in the swimming pool. As his elders called for help, Tristin began performing chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth on the toddler, according to the ABC15 news report. "I knew what I was doing," he is reported to have said.

Can the boob tube truly serve as an unwitting educational tool for life-saving emergency medical procedures? Perhaps it's not as far-fetched as it sounds. Studies have shown that even if you don't have training, it can't hurt to try until the paramedics arrive.

CPR training typically takes the better part of a day, but the American Heart Assn. has a minute-long YouTube video that teaches hands-on CPR basics. The association has said that all secondary school students should be trained in CPR.