For three Cullman women, what began as a routine trip to Wal-Mart included performing emergency CPR on a friend.

Brandy Aris, Mandy Lake and Misty Freemen were about to leave Wal-Mart Thursday afternoon when they noticed Bertis White, 81, who was slumped over in his wheelchair suffering from what appeared to be cardiac arrest, Aris said.

Aris is an LPN at Cullman Regional Medical Center and will become an RN in May. Freeman is an RN at Cullman Regional Medical Center and Lake is a marketer for Mid South Home Health.

“Me and my two friends, Misty and Mandy were leaving Wal-Mart, had been shopping and were on our way home,” Aris said. “And when we were leaving the exit, we noticed him. We thought that he had either been a patient of ours, then we looked at him, and noticed it was a man who went to our church.”

Aris said they asked White questions, and he didn’t respond. They lowered him to the ground, performed CPR and waited for an ambulance to arrive, she said. White was taken by ambulance to Woodland Medical Center, and was later airlifted to Princeton Hospital where he was in critical condition Friday afternoon, Aris said.

“We’re just praying for him,” she said. “It was sad that it was somebody we knew, but we were wanting to help in any way we could. It was a blessing we were there and knew CPR, and not too often do two nurses walk out right when something like that happens.”

Freeman said she, Aris and Lake went to the Emergency Room at Woodland Medical Center when an ambulance arrived for White. Freeman said White seemed to have symptoms of a heart attack.