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Randy Cassingham's BlogHistorical Details and Author's Notes from This is True®
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The Life You Save May Be...
A special "extra" story this week. I've pulled it out separately because it doesn't "really" fit in with True's theme. While it is a bit weird, it's certainly not about someone doing something stupid.
Weekly Weird News
"Remain Calm" Personified
Thurston County, Wash., 911 dispatcher Chris Scott got a routine emergency call: a woman saying her 6-month-old baby was choking, had stopped breathing, and was unconscious. Scott walked her through the procedure to clear the boy's airway. At the end of the call, dispatch supervisor Tammy Clark told Scott, "You saved that boy's life." Scott, still calm, replied: "That was my son." He had recognized the caller as his wife, and she recognized her husband's voice, too. "I always dreaded getting a call like that. I didn't know how I'd handle it," Scott said later. "I guess I handled it pretty good." Scott's wife, Janna, describes him as "a pretty calm person." (KING-TV) ...Practice makes perfect.
All the EMTs out there just smiled: they know the type, and they know what I mean by the tagline. When faced with a real emergency, when one thinks they'd just be overwhelmed, what people really do is "revert to training" -- what they practiced. Cops do it in shooting situations, for instance. I remember when I was being trained in California when I was a deputy, and a lot of cops were still using revolvers. We were told the story of a police shootout, and investigators were a bit perplexed why the shot officer had carefully dumped the empty shells from his gun into his hand, and then put them in his pocket. Turns out, that's what he did during practice on the shooting range, so he didn't have to go pick up the shells later. When it came to the real life-or-death shooting situation, he "reverted to his training" and wasted time taking care of the shells, rather than eject them onto the ground, which is faster -- and he paid for that fastidiousness with his life.
That happened with me and Kit this summer, when we were faced with a patient in cardiac arrest (full story). EMTs drill a lot on what to do, and I've even proctored tests for new EMTs on it. We had a guy dead on the floor -- with the potential to live. If you don't know what to do, you panic. But we did know what to do, and simply "reverted to training" -- we just did what had to be done, and had enough to do that neither one of us had time to panic.
The rep for the manufacturer of my defibrillator was in town recently, and when he heard the story he said he could download the data from my machine, so I handed it over. He showed me the time taken from when I turned it on until I shocked the patient back to life: 21 seconds -- and that includes analysis time to ensure the patient was both in a heart condition that needed to be shocked, and one that would be improved by a shock (yes and yes, obviously). That speed isn't because Kit and I are brilliant, it's because in an emergency we knew what to do, and simply did what we practiced many times. And that is why it's important to not only get CPR training, but to get the refreshers when needed to reinforce that training. Maybe someday you'll save the life of a loved one, like Chris Scott did. But you need the training first. Knowing what to do sure beats panic.
As for our patient, Kit and I were volunteering at a community health fair this month, and someone slapped me on the back. As it happened, I was telling a new EMT about the case right at that moment, and there he was, saying hi, when I turned around. It wasn't just good to see him alive, but he's living, too. So cool!
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Update
I was at a meeting last night and the manager of our dispatch center was there. When I told her this story, she said she had heard about it, and wasn't Chris Scott a new dispatcher? I researched it this morning: he's not just new, he's a trainee! But he's used to paying attention to life and death training: he returned last fall from a one-year deployment to Iraq with the Marines.
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Posted by Don, Utah on March 8, 2010:
I know what you mean. I was an EMT for nine years and a BLS instructor with the American Heart Association. A couple years ago, my wife and I were at a Christmas party, and afterwards we were taking to one of the hostesses, and she all of a sudden went absolutely silent after eating a grape. I asked her if she could speak, and she shook her head "no" and grabbed my arm in a panic. I then just turned her around and did the Heimlich until her airway cleared. Her husband and the security people at the party didn't realize what had happened until it was over. My wife remarked about how quietly and quickly I took care of the problem. I told her I've trained for this to the point where it was "muscle memory."
And yes, she's still around and her husband and she are still grateful.
Posted by Jon, Minnesota on March 14, 2010:
Your comment about "reverting to training" struck a cord with me. I am an orthopaedic surgeon at the University of Minnesota who covers athletic events. Part of the requirement for that is BLS certification. I'm also ATLS certified.
I recertified in December, and and once again wondered why I was doing pediatric BLS when I am covering adults. I understand the importance of being able to do these skills when a part of the medical community so that I can help in emergencies, but I truly never expected to need them.
The second week in February, I snuck to my 4-year-old's Valentine's Day party and was at home with my wife. My 2.5-year-old son got ahold of a jawbreaker. When he stopped making noise, I flipped him and gave him the correct blows between the scapulae.
He never lost consciousness, but I had just said to my wife, "Call 911" when I gave him a few more direct blows, and heard the happiest sound I've heard in my whole life -- a jawbreaker hitting hardwood.
The first person I called was the woman who did my recertification for me.
Thanks for sharing your story (and the other one) with so many people. Perhaps it will help more people become certified.
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I think it's great that you shared the story with your CPR teacher. Trust me: they never get tired of hearing the stories! -rc
Posted by Martin, Shrewsbury England on April 5, 2010:
30 years ago i was returning from a young peoples weekend, it was a dark night and I was driving on a country road. I was told one of the girls was choking. i pulled onto the verge, ran round the minibus and opened the doors. in the dim overhead light i could see the girl struggling to breathe and not succeeding. i dragged her to the back and out of the minibus, I leant her forward and hit her back hard, this was before the days of heimlich. I was never so thankful as when the boiled sweet she had been sucking flew the length of the minibus (I found it the next morning on clean up).
When we got back i told her father what had happened, the following week he laughed as he got her to show me her back, 5 hand prints were still visible as an overlapping bruise. I suppose i should be thankful that it was not a litigious age in UK then.