heads down bottoms up: first aid

heads down bottoms up

This new skin brings about a fresh new beginning, a change, reminding us the importance of looking at things from another perspective so that we may learn to understand and accept all that we see for not what they appear to be, but what they truly are.

Tuesday

first aid

It is 7:30am on a tuesday morning. My eyelids are as heavy as lead as i broad the heated and packed connex train, reluctantly making my way into town for an 8am start to a long uni day ahead. Thoughts of coffee and caffeine and chocolate swivelled round and round in my mind as i rested my sleepy eyes, whilst standing. After a few stations, i very very unwillingly opened my eyes, turn to the right and noticed a women glaring at me. OMG whatthehell?!?! i thought, then something in me tweeked and i sensed trouble. I cringed and politely diverted my gaze out the window.

Then it happened and i caught the action with the corner of my eye.

The young lady fell backwards and collapsed amongst a sea of business-attired men and women, each too busy and wrapped up in their thoughts to realise what had fallen onto them. The collapsed but concious lady lay there on the floor, straining her neck muscles to hold her head up against gravity, glaring down her line of sight; which was directly at me. I felt uneasy. Amongst the crowd, i heard a middle-aged man's voice blurt out "Is there a doctor here?" No response. No one moved.

I stood there for a glimpse of a second, thinking that someone more experienced than myself would pop out of nowhere and help this lady, that i probably wasn't capable of dealing with an emergency. But whatthefuck, no one moved - not even to make room for the sick lady. I dashed passed a few seats, crouched down and made sure she was breathing.

Me: "Are you okay?"
No response.
Me: "Can you talk to me?"
Lady: small trembling nod.
Me: "Can you tell me your name?"
Lady: "Natasha."
Me: "Natasha, have you got any medications on you?"
Natasha: "No.."
Me: "Do you know what happened?"
Natasha: disorientated
Me: "Are you still feeling light headed or dizzy?"
Natasha: "A little"
Me: "Here, (making a little cushion with her trench coat), lie down are rest your head. Bend your knees, that'll help a little." Have you eaten this morning?
Natasha: "Yeah"
Me: "It's probably because of the heat in here, make sure you get plenty of water and don't get up too quickly."
Natasha: "Thanks."

All of a sudden i felt like i had a pair of wings on my back. (hehe..no, not really, but i just really wanted to say that) As much as i was disappointed and almost to the stage that i was annoyed at the reactions of other passengers, and in awe at the fact that no-one attempted to help out, i was quietly proud at how i managed the situation so calmly and steadily. All those CPR dreams must've helped out.

As i made my way to the exit at my station, a young man caught my sight. "Good work back there," he complimented. I thanked him with a smile and left.

posted by sciurine @ 10:39 PM

2 Comments:

At 6:14 AM, Jingo said…

Reminds me of my first aid training:

DR ABC

Danger!
Response
(can't remember what the A stood for)
Breathing
Circulation
At 6:46 PM, sciurine said…

Ahaha...i see they drilled that acronoym into ur heads, albeit missing the whole point of the acronoym. A = Airway, fyi.

Apparantly we no longer need to check for circulation no more. They'd rather us administering CPR even when the persons' heart is still pumping, than for us to accidently assume that their heart is still working and fail to commence CPR.