Third-year medical student from OUWB helps save man’s life at local gym
A third-year medical student from Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine is being credited with recently helping save a man’s life at a local gym.
Ryan Ko, M3, jumped into action on April 7 at a Planet Fitness in Southfield.
Ko says he tapped CPR skills learned at OUWB and recently revisited during a clerkship at Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital in Royal Oak.
His actions allowed enough time for paramedics to arrive and transport the man to the hospital, where he is recovering.
And even though says the experience made him feel “very emotional,” Ko remains humble about what he did, chalking it up to simply doing what he’s trained to do.
“I don’t think I’m special in this regard,” he says. “I know so many of my peers that I would trust with my own life…it could have been any of us, and I think that any of us would have done the same. What we have learned at OUWB prepares us for this kind of situation.”
Duane Mezwa, M.D., Stephan Sharf Dean, OUWB, says he “could not be prouder of Ryan, who immediately jumped into action and saved a life.”
“When I hear that one of our OUWB students performs beyond what we expect from our future physicians it gives me immense pride knowing we are accomplishing what we set out to do…. create caring compassionate physicians who respond to a crisis in a professional manner,” says Mezwa.
(Only partial stories are posted here with hopes to provide a brief overview and introduction to my most recent work. The full version of this story may be found on the OUWB site here.)
