After a day out with friends, Andrea Rogers decided to spend some time alone at the beach in Webster Park. She had a headache and the calming scenery usually helped her.

Rogers napped on and off for hours. Then she was awakened by a loud bang, accompanied by a bright light and the panicked scream of a teenager running from the quayside bridge toward the parking lot.

“She came screaming like something had happened,” Rogers said. “I couldn’t hear what she was saying because I was in my car, but I could hear the scream.”

Curious, Rogers got out of her car and headed toward the commotion on the bridge. As she got closer, she saw a group of people surrounding a teenage girl lying discolored on the ground, her clothes torn and bleeding from a cut on her chin.

“When I got to the scene, she didn’t look good,” Rogers said. “Someone said, ‘Yeah, she was struck by lightning.'”

It was about 8 p.m. on Saturday night and Rogers recalled watching the storm move across the calm waters from her vehicle. She said the third lightning strike caused the chaos. When she reached the bridge, she offered to switch places with a gentleman who was already attempting to perform CPR on the young lady. Rogers said she made it clear that she was trained in CPR and they switched places.

“It was completely surreal,” Rogers said. “I just recognized the need and did it.”

Jeremy Cushman, medical director of emergency medical services for Monroe County and the city of Rochester, has long stressed the importance of bystanders beginning CPR when they witness sudden cardiac arrest. He said every minute that passes without a person in cardiac arrest receiving CPR to maintain blood flow to the brain reduces the chance of survival by 10%.

In Monroe County, community interest in learning CPR has waned over the past year and a half, after interest spiked after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the football field. But Cushman said the community needs more people who can step in in the event of cardiac arrest, like Rogers did.

“To save a life, we need everyone’s help,” he said.

Rogers has been a surgical technician at UR Medicine for nearly 25 years. She works in the operating room at Highland Hospital and the surgery center at Marketplace Mall. Despite her experience in trauma, Rogers said she had never treated a patient this young and this was her first time performing CPR. But regular training on the job allowed her to perform the procedure confidently on the bridge.

“It was almost like I was on the mannequin in my head, and I just felt so safe. I knew where to press. It was almost like I could feel it, and I knew the limit of the press,” Rogers said.

According to the American Heart Association, about 40% of people who suffered cardiac arrest outside of a hospital in the last year received CPR from a bystander before professional help arrived.

“Our EMS, our fire department, first responders and all those people can’t get patients home from the hospital unless someone is there to help and start CPR,” Cushman said.

In the event of a cardiac emergency, Cushman says those affected should “activate the chain of survival,” which begins with a call to 911.

“Don’t worry about inconveniencing us,” Cushman said. “Don’t worry if you’re not sure. Just call 911 and have bystanders begin CPR because literally every minute counts.”

Rogers has since visited the young woman in the hospital and she said she is doing well. At work, she is praised for her heroism, a title she shies away from.

“That’s almost too big a word for me,” she said. “I’m just really grateful that the result was positive.”