OT: Red Eye's and other strangeness from last night.

[scirocco16vr32 at gmail.com (Chris Bennett)]

No Mike... for the last time I WILL NOT demonstrate CPR on you.
Please stop asking.  LOL



On 2/7/07, julie@menloparkrandd.com <julie@menloparkrandd.com> wrote:
>
>
> Good job Chris. Stay calm, observe. That will tell you most of what you need
> to know.
>
> Again, good job.
>
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: Chris Bennett [mailto:scirocco16vr32@gmail.com]
> >Sent: Wednesday, February 7, 2007 11:30 AM
> >To: 'Scirocco List'
> >Subject: OT: Red Eye's and other strangeness from last night.
> >
> >Let me say first that THANK GOD in HEAVEN or whatever YOU choose to
> >pray to... that I wasn't the one jacked up last night or I would be
> >COMPLETELY screwed.
> >
> >I get on the red-eye to Philly last night in Vegas. 11pm pac time.
> >As soon as we get up in the air I change my watch in anticipation of
> >landing at 6am. Approximately 3am Eastern Time the stewardess turns
> >on all the lights and announces that there is a medical emergency.
> >Was there a doctor or an EMT on the plane? No answer... crickets...
> >A couple minutes goes by and it's starting to sound a little more
> >desperate again the call for an EMT or doctor or now ANYONE with ANY
> >sort of medical training...
> >
> >I am thinking holy crap someone's got a bum ticker. I wasn't sure
> >what I could do but I was trained as ALL in the Navy are, to be a
> >Naval Firefighter, and I had specialized training as a medical/damage
> >control first responder. Keep in mind in a military mindset/time of
> >war priorities are a little different than in the civvie world--you
> >let people die to save the ship if you had to... so my training was
> >crude at best and at least a couple years out of practice now. I got
> >up to see what I could do to help. I walk back there and there's this
> >guy playing with the blood pressure cuff on this poor lady. She was
> >maybe 30, about 16 weeks pregnant and had passed out. He asked me if
> >I was an EMT and I couldn't help but laugh. No but I play one on
> >tv... So the stewardess's are completely useless, he's volunteer fire
> >fighter with basic first aid, but he couldn't find her pulse. I
> >suggested the carotid artery and he asked me where it was! (and I
> >caught him using his thumb)
> >
> >I always try to generate some sort of conversation with the patient to
> >distract them. You chat them up a little while observing a few
> >things. Respiration, color/claminess of the skin, pupils and so on.
> >I crack jokes... Ma'am I've got some bad news for you, you have no
> >pulse so therefore you must be dead. She thought that was pretty
> >funny. I took her pulse and it worried me. 90+bpm and weak. The
> >stethescope was crap so I couldn't get a decent blood pressure. They
> >got the oxygen out and made her lay down--I basically treated for
> >shock while I was gathering info. Stewardess comes up and wants to
> >know on behalf of the captain how serious it was--did we need to land?
> > I made it very clear that I was in NO WAY qualified to answer THAT
> >question but I suggested getting an FAA doc on the radio and giving
> >the stats. She was pregnant, no bleeding, no history of diabetes, no
> >gestational diabetes with her first kid, I asked her if she had a good
> >meal recently and she had. No history of anemia and no history of low
> >blood pressure. She asked for some ginger ale and we gave it to her
> >and her pulse slowly came down to about 60 (I monitored every 5
> >minutes) and was much stronger. I was thinking she had low blood
> >pressure and stood up too quickly in the bathroom. The doc on the
> >ground made the call that there was no need to make an emergency
> >landing, thanked me and that was about it.
> >
> >What bothered me was that I was the most medically qualified person on
> >the plane... considering what I know... very little--that is really
> >damn scary. If she had a broken bone or was bleeding horrendously I
> >could deal with that. I could even do CPR... but that's about it.
> >Jesus Christ I think I was more scared than she was. I told her when
> >taking her pulse that I usually didn't hold hands on the first date, I
> >kept her laughing so she wouldn't see how scared shitless I was.
> >
> >Additionally--WHAT THE HELL KIND OF TRAINING DO THESE FLIGHT
> >ATTENDANTS GET? They give those people AED's!!! I mean if it was me
> >in that situation I would have nightmare scenarios of one of them
> >yelling "CLEAR!"
> >
> >They seemed almost in a state of panic.
> >
> >EMT's were waiting when I got there I turned over my observations and
> >they wisked her away in an ambulance.
> >
> >Thank God it worked out. I got no sleep though.
> >
> >Chris
> >
> >_______________________________________________
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> >Scirocco-l@scirocco.org
> >http://neubayern.net/mailman/listinfo/scirocco-l
> >
>
>


-- 
80 Scirocco Callaway Indiana Red
87 Scirocco 16v Tornado Red
04 R32 Reflex Silver