Nearly every week, we get together with two friends for an afternoon of bridge. Recently, one of our friends suffered a “medical event.” Fortunately, another guest is a retired emergency room nurse. She immediately took charge and did all the right things to help him, which also saved us from panicking and doing something that could have been counter to what he needed.
Soon after we called 911, members of the Orwell First Response arrived and we are so impressed with the way they performed. By the time the rescue squad from Porter Hospital arrived, Orwell First Response had collected all of the information they needed to make some good decisions of how to help. They attached him to a piece of equipment that displayed his heart rhythm, then loaded him and sped off to the hospital.
When we spoke with his wife that evening, she assured us that he was doing well and the hospital was keeping him overnight for observation. He called us from home the next afternoon to tell us he was “doing as well as can be expected” and was sure he was going to be “OK.”
We were fortunate to have, first, an RN who knew what to do; second, a team like the Orwell First Response available; third, the competent emergency medical technicians who responded; and fourth, the staff at Porter Hospital.
Now, if we can prevent him from ever bidding Three No Trump again, everything should be all right again.
Maurice Prior
Orwell