LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Central High School junior Nylaia Carter never imagined she’d use the skills she learned in emergency procedures class so soon. 

What You Need To Know

  • Nylaia Carter used the “Stop the Bleed” procedure to help a gunshot wound victim

  • Carter learned the procedure in an applied health pathway class

  • She used her sweatshirt to make a tourniquet

  • The allied health pathway is offered at 16 Jefferson County high schools

“I was looking at the blood and I was like this is a lot of blood. I hope this man is going to be okay,” says the Jefferson County Public Schools student. 

It was the usual ride home from practice when the basketball player and her dad saw a man bleeding out on the sidewalk from a gunshot wound. 

“I told him that I needed to get out and help the man and I went over to the man with my basketball bag. I made a tourniquet out of my sweatshirt to stop his gunshot wound and checked his pulse, checked for breathing and waited for paramedics to get there,” says Carter. 

Carter says she introduced herself to the man, told him what she was going to do, and asked his permission to do so. 

“It felt like if I don’t stop him from bleeding out anything could happen,” says Carter. “I kind of put pressure to it and more blood started to flow he kind of started to lose consciousness.” 

She kept him alert by asking questions to keep him talking.

“I would have applied the CPR if he would have fell unconscious,” says Carter. 

It’s another skill she learned besides using everyday items to make tourniquets and the Heimlich Maneuver in an allied health pathway class. 

Carter took the emergency procedure class at Moore High School last year as a sophomore. 

Her pre-medical magnet teacher, Shantel Reed, is proud of how confident and prepared Carter was in the scary situation. 

“She recognized that there was an emergency, she immediately intervened to knew how to stop it,” says Reed. “That is our goal and she exceeded our expectations and I’m hoping that when any of our students run into that situation, they don’t run away from it, but they know how to react.”

Carter joined the allied health program to head start her goal of becoming a physical therapist.

“Even if you’re not in the medical pathway that this class is important, like there’s other kids and babysitting their siblings and they get choked on something you need to know what to do. You need to know how to respond in any type of situation,” says Carter. 

Her story is a testimony that those skills could help save a life. 

“I went to visit him in the hospital. I met with his family and he’s doing great,” says Carter. “I’m very grateful he survived and that I can be part of that.” 

Sixteen JCPS schools offer the allied health pathway. There are 120 students enrolled in the program at Central High School.