I’m going to apologize ahead of time for this very long post, but there is a great reason for it. Some of you may already know about what had happened on Sunday because of my sister’s facebook post. Now that I’ve had a little time to process, I feel like I’m ready to talk about it so that it might help others. Please know that I am NOT telling this story for kudos, accolades or for any other reason other than I think we must learn from our experiences and from others. This is my hope to anybody who takes the time to read this.
Sunday morning my husband and I went to Ace Hardware to pick up some caulk and miscellaneous items. While my husband was looking over the many options, I became bored and decided to wander the aisles. While browsing, I overheard an Ace Hardware employee say “somebody call 911!” I looked in his direction to see what the commotion was but did not see anything that warranted an emergency call. People were standing in aisles very calming waiting to be checked out and nobody had an overly concerned look on their face. I thought to myself that maybe something had happened outside of the store so I looked out of the doors to see if I could be of assistance. I still saw nothing. Again, I hear the man yell “someone call 911!” Again I see no concern on customers faces. At this point, I now see the man dragging a woman’s limp and blue legs from between the checkout aisles. The woman was also an Ace Hardware employee. I now know that this is a true emergency. I hurried around the counters and stood a good ways back from the lady and the man because I didn’t want to be intrusive but wanted them to know that I was calling 911 and that help would be on its way. At this point I hear another woman yell that she is turning blue. There is now another man sitting beside her and shaking her trying to get her to respond. This is where something shifts in my head. I remember a very recent story from a client of mine about her mom having a heart attack in front of the Home Goods store and how nobody would help except for one lady who had the courage to administer CPR. I have played that scenario in my head so many times and wondered what I would have done. I was bothered by the fact that she said that NOBODY but this woman had helped her mother and that they all just stared. Well, now here I was in the same situation that I had played in my head so many times. Be a bystander or get involved? I put my phone away and straddled the woman to start administering chest compressions while Joel (the man that had also decided to help) gave her the needed breathes. I can’t describe to you all of the different thoughts that were going through my head while Joel and I tried to resuscitate the woman that we now know as Marie. But my head was spinning. “Don’t stop, am I doing this right, I haven’t taken a CPR class for almost 30 years, please don’t die, what if I do more harm than good”. The thoughts were racing through my mind! It was the quickest yet the longest 3 minutes of my life. Just as the police arrived we heard the most amazing sound. Marie began to cough. She was alive! We were successful! By the time the paramedics had arrived she was breathing on her own. As she was taken to the ambulance we heard her talking, which was music to our ears. I have checked in with one of the employees and it sounds like Marie is going to make a full recovery. She now has a pacemaker and is as good as new.
I’m telling you all this story because I realize that if it hadn’t been for my client/friend Whitney telling me her mother’s story, I might not have acted in this situation and might have been one of the people that felt like they were being intrusive or feared that I didn’t know enough to be of assistance. Please take away from this story that I had NOT been trained in CPR for nearly 30 years (and trust me the “rules” have changed since then) but it still helped. I’m not sure why people stand around and just spectate, do we feel intrusive, do we feel like we don’t have enough experience, or we in shock? I don’t know the reason and trust me I keep playing these questions over and over in my mind. I am so profoundly disappointed right now that people stayed in the checkout line waiting to be checked out. That the woman that was being checked out by Marie just stood there not knowing what to do. I wish had answers as to why people react the way they do. I ask…no beg, that each and every one of you take a CPR class. I wonder daily “what if that was me or somebody that I love lying on the floor needing assistance? Would people just stand and watch?” PLEASE take the time learn CPR. If somebody like me with very little knowledge and outdated information can step in to help so can you. If everybody just took the time…
One of my clients/friends stopped by the studio today. She had read my sisters post about Sunday’s event, and felt that she wanted to do something. She gave me a beautiful little silver platter that says “Anything Is Possible”. She is so right, anything IS possible. You just have to try.
Please talk about this story, share it on facebook, Twitter and any other social media that I may not know about, maybe it will give somebody the courage that they need in a time of crisis like Whitney’s story helped me.
