Done with clinicals for the day, Olivia Fedorko changed out of her white Mennonite College of Nursing scrubs and into her workout clothes. It was leg day.
The St. Louis native drove to a local gym, put on her AirPods, and got to work. She was nearing the end of her hourlong routine when she noticed an older man at a free weight station next to her. He looked “wobbly,” Fedorko remembered.
“At first, I just thought he was at the end of his set and maybe just a little tired,” Fedorko said. “But then he just collapsed and fell to the ground.”
Fedorko’s instincts kicked in and her training took over. She knew right away she was probably going to have to perform CPR. She got down on the ground, checked for a pulse and found none. Someone handed her a CPR mask. Within 30 seconds, she was administering life-saving care to a complete stranger. Fedorko crashed through a wall of anxiety with a rush of adrenaline.
“It was scary,” she said. “I never thought my first CPR experience would happen outside a hospital.”
“I went into nursing to help other people in serious situations, people in crises.”
—Olivia Fedorko
Fedorko did as she was trained that day in the fall of 2022. She knew properly administered CPR could break ribs, and soon enough she heard an unmistakable pop in the man’s chest. She alternated between compressions and breaths for two minutes, though it felt like much longer than that. “It was really tiring, but that’s how I knew I was doing it right,” she said.
Knowing the quality of her compressions was fading, Fedorko quickly surveyed her surroundings. A gym staffer was on the phone with a 911 operator. Others were frozen, paralyzed with fear. A young woman stood near watching, listening attentively.
“I knew she could take over,” Fedorko said. “I gave her a quick demonstration, told her what to do, and she did it.”
The young woman provided three or four sets of compressions and breaths. With a second wind, Fedorko took back over. Paramedics soon arrived, loaded the man on a gurney, and wheeled him to a waiting ambulance. Somewhere along the way, his pulse was restored.
Fedorko never saw the man again, though she was able to learn he survived the ordeal, and an underlying condition was found to be the cause of his medical emergency. But in that unknowing moment as the man was stretchered away, Fedorko kneeling on the gym floor with adrenaline still pumping through her veins, a realization crystalized.
She was doing what she was meant to do.
“I went into nursing to help other people in serious situations, people in crises,” she said. “So, it really reaffirmed my decision.”
Fedorko made the decision to become a nurse long before. As a 10-year-old, she made business cards identifying her as “mom’s helper.” As a high schooler, she worked as a lifeguard and nanny after first earning her CPR certification. As a college nursing student, she worked as a home care assistant, where she learned to love Elvis Presley from a patient suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
Providing thoughtful, compassionate care was paramount to each role—even a part-time job at Cracker Barrel last spring. “I approached customer service with the same level of dedication as a nurse would in a health care situation,” Fedorko wrote on her LinkedIn page.
An internship last summer at St. Louis Children’s Hospital has led to a full-time job there. She’ll begin work as a nurse in its neonatal intensive care unit in June after she passes the National Council Licensure Examination. She’ll live with her parents in St. Louis to start. She has long-term hopes to work as a nurse in Dallas.
Even though she may be hundreds of miles from Illinois State University, from which she’ll earn a bachelor’s degree next week, her time on campus will be just a short drive down memory lane.
“The education and training I received here has prepared me so much,” Fedorko said. “I love this school. I loved my experience here.”
This story is one of a series of profiles on Redbirds who are graduating this May. For more information about how Illinois State is celebrating commencement, visit the Graduation Services website.
