PELHAM -- In nominating Pelham High's school nurse of 25 years, Barbara Campbell, to be selected as "New Hampshire School Nurse of the Year," the school's former football coach and physical-education teacher Thomas Babaian described Campbell as

Campbell, 61, a Lowell native learned from PHS Principal Dorothy Mohr on April 1 that she was unanimously selected by the New Hampshire School Nurses' Association to receive the state recognition at an awards banquet June 8 in Manchester.

The "heartbeat" reference, made by Babaian in the nomination package submitted to the NHSNA, held a special added meaning for many of the school's staff, students, parents and alumni who admire Campbell for not only

NH School Nurse of the Year, Barbara Campbell,R.N., she is the Pelham HS nurse, here she stands outside her office with a ER Defibrillator that she trains teachers on . SUN/David H.Brow. (David H. Brow)

"Never did Barbara think she would be on the receiving end of these skills until she collapsed in her office on Oct. 27, 2005 from a heart attack," PHS teacher Lynne Kirila wrote in the nominating Campbell who was later diagnosed with arrhythmia. "A teacher, Judy Metz, whom she had trained in CPR, Officer Anne Periello and the Pelham Fire Department saved her life."

Campbell was later diagnosed with arrhythmia. She said Metz, a gym teacher, was naturally frightened but competent in administering the (chest) compression and breaths needed to prevent

NH School Nurse of the Year, Barbara Campbell,R.N., she is the Pelham HS nurse, here she chats with senior student, April Belanger (18) . SUN/David H.Brow. (David H. Brow)

Campbell was in a coma for a week, awoke in the hospital ICU, and returned to work at PHS six weeks later. The school community and town rallied around Campbell's successful follow-up effort to raise money to equip all the district's schools and town buildings with automated external defibrillators (AED).

"Incredibly, Barbara experienced a second heart attack on Feb. 7, 2007," wrote Kirila.

This time, it was at home and it was Campbell's husband, Glenn, who used the CPR skills his wife had taught him until the Pelham

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N.H. School Nurse of the Year