# @americanredcross on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CxthRfpgTx7
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/72591488-americanredcross-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/876fda8a61.jpg
- **Posted:** 2023-09-27T22:00:23.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** American Red Cross (@americanredcross) — https://gondola.cc/americanredcross

## Caption

"I’m thankful that I knew what I knew. All I can say is: Learn lifesaving skills. You might need them."

21-year-old Sam Richards was eating dinner with his dad Todd when he needed to call on his Red Cross training. After jokingly taking a big bite of steak, Todd accidentally swallowed it and started choking. He quickly grabbed his son's attention before he fell to the floor and stopped breathing.

Sam was scared but pushed his fears aside and reacted quickly. He began with abdominal thrusts, eventually grabbing the piece of steak from his dad's mouth to dislodge it. Sam's mom called 911 as he performed CPR until his dad regained consciousness.

Learning lifesaving skills began when Sam was just a kid, taking swimming lessons and eventually getting his lifeguard certification. It was the skills he learned from his Red Cross lifeguard instructor, Lori LaPointe, that would help him save his dad's life.

“I’m very proud of Sam,” Lori said. “He was able to pull from his memory and save his own father’s life. That is hands-down the most rewarding thing that’s ever happened to me here.”

Because of his lifesaving actions, Sam was awarded the Red Cross Certificate of Merit by the RedCrossNNE. Lori was also in attendance and honored with the Red Cross Lifesaving Instructor Award as a special surprise.

Drop a '❤️' to show some love to Sam, his family AND Lori!

#LifesavingAwards #RedCross #CPRTraining #CPRSkills

## Stats

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- **Likes:** 674
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## Credits

No public credits are recorded here. This does not identify who made the post.

## Tags

cprtraining, lifesavingawards, cprskills, redcross

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