Last Shift...Successful CPR!

Saturday, August-07-10

This entire time I’ve been thinking (and writing) that I’ve had great calls, but I really want to experience החיאה-hachiyah (CPR) while I’m here in מד'א-MDA. Well tonight that’s exactly what I got to do, and on my last shift!

The shift began quite disorganised as usual. After calling the volunteer coordinator my chul partner and I got placed on the נט''ן-natan (ICU) with a paramedic and an EMT, which was very exciting. So we waited and waited for a call and at 1am we still hadn’t been out once. Then a driver got a call on one of the regular ambulances and for some reason he was alone so he asked me to come with him. We went and it was a נסיעה רגילה-nesiya regila (regular/non emergency call) for a man who was feeling ‘weak’. The call was quick and we didn’t even wait at Ichilov for our break since it turned out that that driver was part of another team at a difference station and was just at main station to get something. As soon as he turned off the ambulance my original team finally got a call. We went out to רמת גן-Ramat Gan for an older woman who had pneumonia. It was also pretty simple, but since we were with all the advanced equipment we got to do a lot more in the ambulance like connect her to the monitor and start an IV line. While at the hospital on our break we got a call. On the computer all it said was 90y/o woman—breathing. We didn’t really know what to expect but when we opened the door a woman just pointed for us in the direction of a room.

We entered and the woman was unconscious and on the ground next to the bed. Next the חובש-chovesh (medic) connected the monitor and we could see that she didn’t have pulse and had flat line so the paramedic start, let’s start החיאה-hachiya (CPR). I began compressions with the cardiopump while the medic and the other chulnik set up for intubation and the paramedic started opening lines and giving drugs. After the intubation was secure my chul partner and I kept switching between ventilations and compressions, while the others were dealing with all the drugs. We had closed the door to the bedroom and there was no air conditioner so we were all dripping with sweat and it was really hard to manoeuvre around since the room was so small. They taught us in class to never cross over a patient but in this case, that went out the window. We even had to throw a few things across and we went through equipment like mad. I think we were all so busy, switching positions, opening IVs (at one stage I was ventilating with one hand against my thigh and opening IV’s for the paramedic with my teeth) that we didn’t notice the moment the machine started beeping the moment her heart rate returned. The paramedic was just said to stop compressions and we all just starred at the screen. Surely her pulse had returned after about 15-20min since starting, and it was now beating a just over 100beats/min, it was pretty amazing to see. After about 5mins of her having a stable heart rate, we called for another team to come and help us with the evacuation. The rest of the time I continued to ventilate, always watching to CO2 level on the monitor and we began to clean up while we waited. In the end I finally got the story of what had happened, and it turned out that she had woken up not being able to breathe and then fell unconscious and she had been unconscious for about 5min before we got there.

Getting her to the ambulance was also a challenge. The elevator could not fit our bed so our paramedic decided to put on a neckbrace (she was still intubated and unconscious) and use the chair. It took the four men to lift her and then we moved very slowly since I was still ventilating. Once in the ambulance there wasn’t much to do besides continue ventilations, and once we arrived I was quite surprised in how little there was to do there as well. They connected her to a ventilator, opened new lines (since ours had collapsed from pushing drugs so quickly) and that was about it.

Walking out of the emergency room was a great feeling. It was the first time I realised that it was actually we had beat the odds, our attempt being successful. Back at the ambulance the four of us just sat smiling while we reset all our equipment. This time we actually really needed our break not only to clean up the ambulance, but also to take a minute to rest. From arriving at the apartment to the hospital it had been about 1 hour and 15 minutes and we had all worked hard. I didn’t even notice how thirsty I had gotten up I went for a drink at the hospital and couldn’t stop drinking.

After we evacuated from the hospital we got another call without getting a chance to go back to the station. This call was for an old man with asthma who was having trouble breathing and we took him to Ichilov. It was also simple, but it was a slow transfer and by now the high of the CPR had worn off and we were all feeling the fact that we hadn’t slept all night. The best part about this call for me was that when we got back to the hospital we checked on the woman and she was now half breathing on her own, it was definitely neat to see. By the time we left to head back to the station, it was close to the end of the shift and thankfully we didn’t get another call.

Leaving the station that morning was weird. My drivers from the night knew it was my last shift and we said goodbye and I went to say bye to our volunteer coordinator at the station but that was really it. I couldn’t have asked for a better ending though. CPR was something I really glad to have now experienced and although I I’ve learned that in מד''א-MDA it isn’t always about all the exciting calls I am definitely happy to have ended so positively.

I slept for most of the morning and then I went out and enjoyed the shuk (market), did some shopping before everything closed for Shabbas, and went out for lunch with a good friend of mine. Today is my best friend’s birthday so I’m celebrating with her and it’s also my last day here. I’m avoiding packing as usual and I really can’t believe that I’m heading back already. I’m more than excited to see my family and friends back home but I don’t quite know how to feel about leaving Israel, especially since I don’t know when I’ll be back. Hopefully I’ll get one last post in before I leave tomorrow morning, until then enjoy your weekends!