Tech Sgt. Valerie Montellano, instructor supervisor for the Air Force dental assistant program at the Medical Education and Training Campus, is surprised by Army Col. Robert Bridgford, vice commander of the 502nd Air Base Wing, while teaching a Basic Lifesaving class on Aug. 23. Bridgford described to the class how Montellano’s training and quick thinking saved his life. He then presented Montellano with a coin while his wife, Shirley, presented her with a bouquet of flowers in appreciation for her actions that “brought him back to life”. Bridgford collapsed while working out at the Jimmy Brought Fitness Center May 14. Montellano, along with a nurse with the AMEDDC&S Department of Nursing, immediately sprang into action and administered life support with an automated external defibrillator for approximately 15 minutes until emergency medical services arrived. According to Bridgford, if lifesaving measures were not performed within the first two minutes, he would not have survived.