Stillwater nurse who saved life during Helene says she will go back after Milton [Video]

STILLWATER, Okla. — Salem Lutheran Church’s parish nurse Cindy Pennie is advocating for more volunteers with a medical background to lend a helping hand with the American Red Cross in light of hurricanes hitting the southeast.

Pennie used her 29 years as a labor & delivery nurse at Stillwater Medical Center to render aid last month as a woman inside a shelter suddenly went into cardiac arrest as Hurricane Helene was hitting in Live Oak, Fla.

“It was pretty chaotic,” the retired nurse said. “It was a gymnasium full of probably about 400 people.”

“I pushed the button. (The AED) shocked her and it said, ‘Begin CPR,’ and that’s what I did, was start hands-only chest compressions.”

Pennie was the only nurse on staff with the Red Cross at the shelter. She told 2 News Oct. 9 after returning home she will likely get called back to the area in the next …