Quick-thinking by Michigan teacher Julia Koch saves a life

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When Michigan teacher Julia Koch spoke to the grandparent of one of her students on the telephone, she noticed something alarming in the older woman’s speech. What the teacher did next saved the grandparent’s life. Photo credit: CNN.

When Michigan teacher Julia Koch spoke to the grandparent of one of her students on the telephone during a virtual lesson, she noticed something alarming in the older woman’s speech. What the teacher did next saved the grandparent’s life.

Julia Koch, a first grade teacher at Edgewood Elementary School in Muskeegan Heights, Michigan, was teaching her virtual class on September 22 when she received a call from Cynthia Phillips, the grandparent of one of her students. Cynthia had called to say she was having difficulties with the technology, but during the conversation Julia noticed something alarming about the grandparent’s speech.

“It was clear there was something very wrong,” Julia remembered. “Her words were so jumbled, and I couldn’t understand what she was trying to say. She didn’t sound like herself.” The teacher immediately called her principal, Charlie Lovelady, who then directed a staff member to call 911 while she spoke to Cynthia on the phone.
“I noticed her speech was impaired, and I asked her if she was all right, and she was stumbling over her words and it was getting worse by the minute,” the principal told a reporter from CNN. “I knew the symptoms of a stroke because I lost my father from a stroke, so I told her hold on and immediately got her help.”
An ambulance was dispatched to the student’s home, but Lovelady asked two staff member to drive to the Phillips home to make sure the children were cared for during the medical crisis.
“I would have died if it weren’t for the teacher being so quick and fast about getting me help,” Cynthia said from her hospital bed. “It made me so close to the staff and the principal, even the secretary who hurried to get me on the phone with the principal. They showed up at my house to make sure I’m okay,” she said through her tears. “I thank God I didn’t die in front of my kids.”
Not many educators can say they have helped saved a life. Julia Koch and Charlie Lovelady: Two true Chalkboard Heroes.
To read more about this story, see this link at CNN.