A HAREFIELD Academy teenager helped a man who had collapsed thanks to first aid skills he learned the day before at school.
Don-Bosco Rodgers 15, was walking home with his mother after a parents evening at the Northwood Way school when they spotted the man lying on the pavement.
Several people walked past but Good Samaritan Don-Bosco and his mother, Norma, stopped and asked if he needed help.
They soon learned he may have taken a potentially lethal cocktail of alcohol and tablets.
Don-Bosco said: It went through my head, I can use my first aid .
I remembered they told us to tap the person to see if they were conscious.
Then I put him in the recovery position and kept talking to him.
Later he came round a bit and asked to sit up, and we helped him while we waited for the ambulance.
The incident, in Chester Road, Northwood, has won Don-Bosco the praise of his teachers and fellow pupils.
The sporty youngster, who had a first aid induction as part of his BTEC PE class, said it was lucky that he had the knowledge fresh in his mind.
He said: "If I hadnt had that first aid training I probably would have done the wrong thing.
"I probably wouldnt have put him on his side."
A nurse arrived on the scene minutes later and said that by talking to the man Don-Bosco and his mother had probably stopped him from losing consciousness.
Mum Norma said: "If we hadn't stopped we wouldnt have known what happened to him.
"Four people walked past him while he was lying there."
Don-Bosco, who lives in Northwood Hills, said: "I felt really proud of myself afterwards.
"A lot of people say and I used to think so too that the things you learn in school don't transfer into real life situations, but this time it really did."