Monday, April 28, 2008

Which One of Us is Weirdest?

Yesterday while we were sitting in church, a man in front of us keeled over in his seat. Several people jumped up and rushed to him. I over heard a man sitting with him say, "He has done this before". I was sitting only a couple of rows back, so could see him very clearly. I noticed that no one was actually doing anything to help him. I have had some first aid training in college, but I'm not a nurse or anything like that, so I felt like I should sit back and let those who are trained help him. But no one was doing what I thought they should be. I was just about to jump up and help. I heard someone say, "Is there a nurse in here?" I spoke up loudly, "A nurse?!" A woman two rows behind me jumped up and went to help. I know her, and knew she was a nurse, so I didn't get up. I watched her as she asked them, "Does he have a pulse?", and proceded to take his pulse. Thank you! I was wondering when they were going to get around to that! I make it sound like this happened over a long period of time, but in reality it was only a matter of a minute or less. But it felt like eternity. They carried him out in to the foyer and called paramedics. It turns out that this man has a history of some kind of seizure. All day my kids gave me a hard time about my wanting to jump up and help. But the way I look at it is, what if there wasn't a nurse there? I may not be trained like her, but I do know how to give CPR, and I'm not going to sit around and watch a person die if I can possibly help. I honestly don't understand why my kids think I am weird for wanting to get up and help. In fact, I think they are the weird ones for wanting to sit back and do nothing. What do you think? Which one of us is weird?

7 comments:

Nene said...

You are not weird. Or maybe I am. I am always the one to jump up to help at least until someone more qualified comes. However, if my husband is with me he holds me back sometimes. A week ago Sunday, a woman got up - as if to leave during the closing song - and just keeled over. The woman with her said (just like in your case) "She does this all the time". She also said to leave her alone. Well, she was face down on the floor!(as in resting on her nose!) I said, "You can't leave her face down, you don't know if she can breathe good enough. So we rolled her over on her back. Then a nurse came, and a few minutes later, the doctor in our ward. This woman was new in our ward and that was her first day. Come to find out she is very heavily medicated for depression and who knows what else. Supposedly she passes out all the time because of her medications. In fact when she passed out, the RS president stood up and said to all the sisters, "This will not be an uncommon happening with this sister" Well, I guess RS won't be dull from now on!

Max Coutinho said...

Hey D,

No, you are not weird at all! In fact, you are the one who is 100% right!
I don't understand how people are able to see a person on the floor and do nothing about it!
I understand that many of us may freeze for a minute, but actually sit back and do nothing? No, no, no.
But you know how kids are...

And I also get you when you say that an event that only took place for a minute seems to have taken place for eternity: is it our panic alert setting off?

I hope the gentleman is feeling better!

Cheers

Inklings said...

No, you are not weird, you are a good person, and the world needs more people like you.

Lindsay Logic said...

I agree with Inside Stories. You're right to help if you can, at least until someone more qualified comes along. I can see your kid's hesitation to help, because it may be awkward, but I think a lot of confidence comes with age. You're a good example to them, anyway! :)

*L*

Jenn said...

I totally agree with everyone else. I am currently living in a ward that is dominated my members who work in the medical profession (the med school is in my ward boundaries). To give you an example: OB/Gyn Surgeon, Cardiologist, Pediatrician, Gen. Practice, Anesthesiologist, Optical Surgeon, and several psychiatrists. It's quite comical to be around listening to the regular conversations of everyone.

One Sunday, our RS teacher just keeled over (apparantly she locked her knees and passed out). I have NEVER seen our RS pres (also a doctor) run so fast in her life. She saw the signs before they happened and was able to catch her before she hit the ground. She and another doctor guided her in to another room and checked her out. My whole thinking was... "That's how it should be!!!" I can't imagine them leaving her there. Just as a point of conversation... this has happened in the temple almost everytime I've been there. There just seems to be a lot of "knee locking" going on up here.

Native Minnow said...

I think you were right in wanting to help. Your kids probably just think otherwise because their world is safe, and nothing bad really ever happens (I doubt they've ever watched someone die, so it probably didn't seem like a real possibility). That said, I probably wouldn't have jumped right up to help either.

PsychDoctor said...

I will always help, unless there is someone more qualified than myself...Your kids are weird. :)