How I spent my morning

[james_davis_nicoll]

I walked by Charles and Queen to discover Queen, already impassible, is now even more impassible due to added construction. This turned out to matter more than I thought.

I was walking by Platform C (? The second island with the iXpress buses) when an 87-year-old man in front of me got dizzy, tried to catch himself on a sign standard and missed; he hit his head pretty hard when he got to the pavement.

I was the first one to him, which might have been useful if I had any first aid. As it was all I did was convince him to stay still - he wanted to get up and keep going* - and alerted the nearest GRT bus driver, who used her vehicle's radio to call a guard. The guard showed up less than a minute later, called 911 as soon as he saw what was going on and the two of us waited with the gentleman until the ambulance showed up.

As it turns out, I've had cause to time responses for 911 in the core and it is usually three minutes or less. This was about ten minutes and I blame all the road work; I think they've had to cut over to Victoria to get there from St Mary's.

Anyway, huge goose egg and his neck was sore but he was lucid as they took him away. And he didn't lose his book; the paramedics took particular care to make sure of that.

(I was told to wait in case the paramedics needed details from me, which they didn't)

* To St. Mary's hospital for an unrelated matter, as it turns out.

Comments

[thecemeterylady.livejournal.com]

Glad he's ok...and I think you're right, because I've noticed a hell of a lot more ambulance traffic near my place and I live right at Victoria and Westmount. It's ridiculo8us all the detours we have to take. It doesn't make traveling as a blind person very easy, that's for sure.

[joenotcharles.livejournal.com]

I read that as, "It doesn't make driving as a blind person very easy."

No, I guess it wouldn't be.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I wonder how expensive a basic first aid course would be. It would probably be useful and I'd be able to do more than provide colour commentary.

[anton-p-nym.livejournal.com]

The Canadian Red Cross lists a lot of courses but they're very coy about prices; I couldn't see any without slugging in a fake registration, which I am somewhat loathe to do. Plenty of courses cited by several providers in K-W, though.

St. John Ambulance is similarly coy.

From my recollection, a basic "Heart Saver" two-session CPR instruction/certification cost me $10 a quarter century ago.

-- Steve, thankfully, never had to put that into use.

[keithmm.livejournal.com]

The last few courses I've taken/helped organize ran about $125/$150 per student, but you'd probably get them cheaper in other places where they are offering them more regularly. This was for Standard First Aid/CPR + AED, which is pretty much the baseline people should have these days.

[svan-1004.livejournal.com]

Basic first aid is usually not that bad. If you were in my state I could teach you for the cost of the cards.

[svan-1004.livejournal.com]

Traffic is an amazing hindrance some times.
I'm not looking forward to this weekend when...
The main Hospital we prefer to go to is still having construction in its Emergency ramp/bay area. Our Town is having a Run and there is going to be a town wide garage sale.
With all that there is also construction going on with a major Highway. And for many this is the last full weekend of the summer before school starts.
My crew will be on for 50 hours this weekend.

Fortunately we are a Volunteer Agency and if response is going to be delayed we have the option to have some of our EMT's respond directly to the scene so care can be started while we wait for the Ambulance. We also have the option to stage our ambulance and crew in a different location depending on access/need.

I am glad that you were there and saw what happened. I am also glad that you were able to encourage the gentleman to stay where he was and that you were able to get help.

The information that comes from the beginning of an incident can make a world of difference for what is done to treat a patient.

Thank you.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

If I had been three feet closer, I could have tried to grab him.

[svan-1004.livejournal.com]

All too often that is how it is. So, we learn how to deal with the consequences. I became an EMT because I often ended up in the right place at the right time without enough training. I fixed the problem I had control over.

[daystreet.livejournal.com]

One time I was on a sidewalk behind a Mom and her little boy. He was maybe 3 years old? We were at a crosswalk and for some reason (stepping up on the curb? I can't remember...) the little boy lost his balance and began to fall backwards like a plank. I reached out and caught his head in one hand an inch or two above the pavement, a Willie Mays catch right at the shoelaces. He landed on his back but that just knocked a little bit of wind out of him. His skull was nestled safely in the pillow-like palm of my hand.

It was the strangest feeling. Seriously. Swear to gawd my hand thought it had just snagged a softball hit to left field that would've otherwise been a three-bagger. His little head was just exactly the same size, shape and weight.

[neowolf2.livejournal.com]

Your karma cup is overflowing.

[realinterrobang.livejournal.com]

Why do I have the feeling that scenario might not have turned out Kodak-moment perfect?

[keithmm.livejournal.com]

Incidentally, good call on keeping him from moving. Realistically, aside from checking him for possible injuries there's nothing else you could or should have done anyway in that situation.

Keeping them from moving and talking[1] to them is probably the most useful thing to do in the majority of accidents.


1. I once saw someone taking a first aid course who didn't grasp the concept that if the subject is talking to you, checking their breathing is not a primary priority[2].

2. Also couldn't grasp that there's a word for a situation where a would-be rescuer insisting on physically checking someone who says they're fine and don't need help and don't want to be touched: it's called "assault". I often toss that scenario in when when I'm assisting with a course.[3]

3. When I set up training exercises, I can be a real asshole. Teachers *hate* it when I run fire drills at the schools.

[pauldormer.livejournal.com]

I remember an incident maybe 30 years ago when I was living in London. I was walking back from the train station to my flat late at night and there was someone walking the same direction in front of me. He was much slower and seemed to be staggering. As I passed him (and no, I didn't run into him) he just keeled over. I asked him if he was OK but he didn't seem to be able to speak coherently or get up. Don't know if he was very drunk or had had some sort of stroke.

A couple walked past while I was wondering what to do and I knew that if they kept going down the road they'd pass an ambulance station so I asked them to tell someone there. Don't know if they did but an ambulance did pass eventually and I was able to flag it down.

Of course, these days I'd be able to call 999 on my mobile.