19 February 2004
Learned it well...
I got up this morning to find that my Post was not where it should have been. Now granted, someone could have taken it as others had their paper's...But still it was enough to put a little rain cloud over my head as I got ready for work.
I walked up to the Metro with Lara and as we were coming into the station we noticed a man sitting in a roll away chair, leaning on a pillar. The Metro attendant and another man were with him, but I went over anyway. It ended up that the man in the chair had a pace maker that was shocking his heart almost constantly, and the man who had stopped on his was into the metro system was having problems finding a radial pulse. I decided to stay as both said that they had called the EMT's but that they had no real medical training. I told Lara to go on to work, thinking that it was not going to be a big deal as I was able to find a weak and thready neck pulse. The long and the short of it is that it was a big deal. The man stopped breathing twice before the help arrived. The second time he stopped breathing, the EMT's were on the wrong side of the metro and he did not start breathing until after I had started the compressions. The EMT's waltzed in -I kid you not. They did not even have all of their bags with them or a gurney - and in the 4 phone calls to 911, it was repeated every time that the man in question had a pacemaker that was shocking him! The EMT's said that it was just a regular old asthma attack and that it was no big deal. Once they figured out that it was a bit more than just an asthma attack - then they started to pick up...I thank them all...I hope that the man in question will be fine...CPR is something that I first learned back when I was a girl scout - something that I never thought that I would use...and I am going to get myself over to the American Red Cross to get my certification updated...I cannot tell you how long ago it expired...but at least I still knew how to do it...After the excitement had died down a bit and the Metro Attendant took my info, I mentioned that my certification had expired awhile go, and he told me "Well, I reckon that you'll have no problems passing that class. You must have learned it well when you were taught it!" I would have to agree with him. Let's just hope that I do not have to use it again in the near future, or at least until I am re-certified...
I walked up to the Metro with Lara and as we were coming into the station we noticed a man sitting in a roll away chair, leaning on a pillar. The Metro attendant and another man were with him, but I went over anyway. It ended up that the man in the chair had a pace maker that was shocking his heart almost constantly, and the man who had stopped on his was into the metro system was having problems finding a radial pulse. I decided to stay as both said that they had called the EMT's but that they had no real medical training. I told Lara to go on to work, thinking that it was not going to be a big deal as I was able to find a weak and thready neck pulse. The long and the short of it is that it was a big deal. The man stopped breathing twice before the help arrived. The second time he stopped breathing, the EMT's were on the wrong side of the metro and he did not start breathing until after I had started the compressions. The EMT's waltzed in -I kid you not. They did not even have all of their bags with them or a gurney - and in the 4 phone calls to 911, it was repeated every time that the man in question had a pacemaker that was shocking him! The EMT's said that it was just a regular old asthma attack and that it was no big deal. Once they figured out that it was a bit more than just an asthma attack - then they started to pick up...I thank them all...I hope that the man in question will be fine...CPR is something that I first learned back when I was a girl scout - something that I never thought that I would use...and I am going to get myself over to the American Red Cross to get my certification updated...I cannot tell you how long ago it expired...but at least I still knew how to do it...After the excitement had died down a bit and the Metro Attendant took my info, I mentioned that my certification had expired awhile go, and he told me "Well, I reckon that you'll have no problems passing that class. You must have learned it well when you were taught it!" I would have to agree with him. Let's just hope that I do not have to use it again in the near future, or at least until I am re-certified...
