My Lifesaving Red Cross Story: Josh Berg

By Clarice Nassif Ransom, American Red Cross Volunteer

Name: Josh Berg
Recognition: American Red Cross Lifesaving Certificate of Merit, 2019

Meet Josh Berg. Josh helped save the life of an athlete who collapsed and lost consciousness at the finish line of a track meet at the Christy Mathewson Memorial Stadium in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, on April 13, 2019. 

Josh Berg receiving his award from American Red Cross
in the National Capital Region CEO Linda Mathes in  November 2019.

Just three days before the track meet, Josh was re-certified in American Red Cross CPR/AED for Professional Rescuers & First Aid, which Josh attributes as helping him to know how to save the athlete’s life. Josh explains that on the day of the track meet, he was the host athletic trainer – it was a gorgeous Saturday afternoon, and the event was typical from a medical aspect. 

“As an athletic trainer at a track meet, however, you can never let your guard down, and you must be prepared to deal with the absolute worst of scenarios,” said Josh. 

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“The absolute worst of scenarios happened as quickly as I can remember. I got a radio call from my intern who said that there was an athlete at the finish line who apparently stopped breathing and lost his pulse. I immediately ran to the scene to evaluate the medical situation.”

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Josh said the athlete was a mid-distance sprinter who finished the race and collapsed as he was trying to catch his breath. 

“At the time of my initial assessment, the athlete was not breathing, and he did not have a pulse,” said Josh. 

“I instructed a bystander to notify emergency medical services (EMS) staff who were thankfully stationed at the meet. I immediately began giving chest compressions, and it did not take long for the athlete to regain consciousness. I remember around the 22, 23, or 24th chest compression, the athlete took a gigantic gasp of air. At that time, I never felt more relief in my entire life. EMS staff responded quickly and were on the scene very close to when that athlete began breathing and regaining a pulse.”

Josh said as the EMS staff removed the athlete from the scene for further medical treatment, the athlete was waving to the crowd.

 "A true miracle was that the athlete had the fight in him to remain alive,” said Josh, who was grateful to the intern and to the bystander for helping him save the athlete’s life.

“I retreated back to my tent and prayed I would never have to do something like that again. I was hopeful that the athlete would make a good recovery, which I later found out he did.”

Saving a life impacted Josh in many ways, including realizing how his training in American Red Cross CPR/AED for Professional Rescuers & First Aid made him prepared and able to respond to this unexpected event. 

“This lifesaving event taught me that there is no such thing as being overly prepared, especially if lives are on the line,” said Josh. 

“Whether you are a healthcare professional, summer lifeguard, coach, or a bystander with a CPR certification, you must always be ready to snap into action and to protect others. As an athletic trainer, not only are we surrounded by our student-athletes every day, we are surrounded by our school’s community. We are often the first line of help during an emergency.”

Josh hopes his story will inspire others who hear and read about it to become trained in CPR/AED or take part in other lifesaving trainings.

He says the key to a lifesaving event is being ready.

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“Trust yourself and the preparation that brought you to this point. True instinct will take over. I think this story will inspire some to not take their role for granted.”

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The American Red Cross Lifesaving Certificate of Merit is the highest award given by the American Red Cross to an individual or team of individuals who saves or sustains a life by using skills and knowledge learned in an American Red Cross Training Services course. The certificate bears the signature of the President of the United States, who is the honorary chairman of the American Red Cross, and the signature of the chairman of the American Red Cross. According to the American Red Cross, a lifesaving action exemplifies the highest degree of concern of one human being for another who is in distress.

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Our Red Cross training programs include First Aid, AED, BLS, CPR, EMR, swimming, water safety, babysitting, child care, and more! Learn more and sign up today: http://redcross.org/takeaclass

Diana Davis: Red Cross Hero

June 1-7 is designated as National CPR and AED Awareness Week. The American Red Cross, along with other National Cardiac Arrest Collaborative members, is stressing that every second counts in cardiac arrest and people can save lives by knowing how to perform CPR and use an AED.

Written by Rose Ellen O'Connor, Volunteer

It was a quiet evening last November when the panicked call came for help. Diana Davis’s 30-something neighbor was having a heart attack and his father-in-law wanted to know if anyone new CPR. Diana reacted on instinct.

She ran across the street and found her neighbor, Bobby Clark, on the floor, his face purple and his eyes rolled back in his head. She pulled up his shirt and put two fingers to his throat looking for a heartbeat. There was none. Then she put her ear to his mouth and listened for breathing. Again, nothing. Finally, she checked his chest and found no movement. She began administering compressions to his chest, just as she learned in CPR class.

He began taking shallow breaths that gradually moved closer together. When the paramedics arrived, they administered shocks to his heart and his normal color returned to his face. They told Diana she had saved her neighbor’s life. Her mother went with Bobby’s wife Jaime to the hospital and the doctors issued the same verdict: if Diana had not administered CPR, Bobby would have died.

“I wasn’t really thinking anything. I just wanted to help,” Diana says.


Knowing that she had saved a life was mind-blowing.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” she says. “He changed my life and I definitely changed his. I feel like I have more purpose. I wanted to be a doctor before but now I know I’m going down the right path.”

Diana, 18, who lives in Gaithersburg and is graduating from Northwest High School, received the Certificate of Merit from the Red Cross at a graduation awards ceremony in May. The American Red Cross in the National Capital Region will also be honoring her at its Annual Meeting on June 6.

Diana Davis with American Red Cross,
National Capital Region CEO, Linda Mathes.

She learned CPR in a life guard class sponsored by the Red Cross. Diana was following in her two older brother’s footsteps, both of whom are lifeguards. She took CPR class again in a first aid class her sophomore year of high school, and was recertified before last summer’s lifeguard season began.

Diana plans to start a Red Cross club at Montgomery College, which she will be attending in the fall.

To see Diana receive the highest Red Cross award, the Certificate of Merit (signed by the President of the United States), click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM3rjHbwbqs