Joyce Ann Colby will never forget the morning of Sept. 18 as she was sipping coffee and suddenly fell to the ground.
Neither will Jo Hartwell or Patti Prince, the women who saved Colby’s life. The MSU police surprised the two women with lifesaving awards on Thursday in the College of Education advising department where Colby went into cardiac arrest 22 days earlier.
“When we go out on our calls and observe people doing good things we want them to be recognized for their effort,” said MSU police Sgt. Florene McGlothian-Taylor.
“This is the highest award we can give,” said MSU police Lt. John McCandless, who handed the two women framed lifesaving award certificates. MSU police Officer Gus Fernandez, who responded to the scene and nominated the women for the awards, stood close by.
Prince, an academic advising office assistant, said she could only think about getting Colby to breathe while she was taking her pulse and Hartwell was performing breath compressions.
“I saw her down there, and dove into action,” said Prince, who has nursing experience.
But Hartwell, a kinesiology adviser, said she is glad the incident occurred when it did.
“Who knows why things happen,” Hartwell said. “It just happened to be in the right place at the right time.”
Hartwell explained Colby could have passed out in the bathroom or some other small office where Hartwell wouldn’t have seen her lying on the floor as she went to sharpen pencils.
Carmen Hendera, advising office secretary, said she was glad Hartwell and Prince were around the day the incident occurred. She said things were out of the ordinary that day.
“It began with everyone calling in sick,” Hendera said. “Other people were at a conference or running late.”
Only Hartwell and Hendera were in the office for the first 45 minutes of the day. Colby arrived later, and Prince was running late because her kids were sick. She said if she couldn’t find a parking spot around Erickson Hall, she would go back home.
“Just as I said that I was going home, someone backed out of a parking spot closest to the building,” Prince said.
Colby was also grateful that the two women were in the office that day.
“I just can’t thank them enough,” Colby said. “What more can I say - they are lifesavers. It’s something else, but I survived, and I’m going forward.”
