Very sadly, one of the group members had a heart attack as the group was leaving the university campus. Together with a number of other wonderful people, I suddenly found myself performing CPR in the carpark, surrounded by Maori relatives and friends of the man. (I only did this for a few minutes, then someone relieved me until the ambulance finally arrived).
Haunting is probably the only word that describes this experience. The way that the whole group gathered round and kept calling out for their "uncle" to stay with them was incredible. At one point, tears were splashing down beside my hands as I did compressions, and I glanced up to see one of the young women from the group weeping above me.
We learned later that the man died in hospital. I am still coming to terms with what happened, as this was the first time I'd had to use my CPR training in a real emergency. Working in palliative care has meant facing death full on, but hospice work doesn't usually require resuscitation. So it was a sad welcome to NZ in the end, which will always shape the way I remember my time there.
4 comments:
Congratulations Tamara on your quick thinking in the carpark. There is no time to sit back and contemplate what to do in situations such as those is there.
But, that' s life I guess.
Cool Col
Thanks Col, for your comment. One of the scary things is how little "quick thinking" actually takes place - it was mostly reflexive action, which just shows how important the yearly CPR refresher courses are.
Peace,
Tamara
Hi Tamara
I have vivid memories of the resusicitation events I have been involved with and in my experience they stay with one for a long time - particularly with Ged of course but also in Village Fair one day while having morning tea with the children when they were small (probably 6 and 7) when it was me and another bystander till ambulance arrived - doing CPR with one's own small children sitting close by and crying.... well...... as with your experience the woman died later in hospital but I do think it allows the family a little more precious time and hence a valuable contribution to their lives I believe. It has something to do with that cycle of life and death too and quite a profound way to touch someones life literally.
take care
Loretto
Yes...this memory will stay with you forever. It's amazing the emotion surrounding an event like this.
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