Sara’s Story: Here one minute…

I am on a volunteer ambulance service in a rural area.  In our call 
area we cover 4-5 small towns.  One hot summer day we got a call for elderly 
woman fell.  I looked at my partner and said " Typical".  We arrived at the 
residence and when we walked into the house found an older lady probably in her mid 70's laying in a doorway.  She was conscious, alert, and 
orientated.  I looked at one of the firemen and told him to grab a back board and c- collar. 
 We were getting a good medical history from the lady and I was about 
to put oxygen on her when she started vomiting.  I looked at my partner and 
said we have to go now.  Well, to our suprise she had gone in to cardiac 
arrest.  I looked at the policeman and told him to get and ALS crew out here right away, being that my partner and I were only EMT- Basics.  We got the woman on a backboard and out to the rig as fast as possible and burned rubber while shocked her about 6 times and was performing CPR.  Finally the ALS crew 
tiered with us and the paramedic's were moving quite slow.  They opened 
the back doors of the rig and their jaws about hit the ground.  One 
paramedic looked at me and said "This is the lady that fell?"  "Yup"  I replied.  Well, 
to make a long story short we got her to the hospital and she never 
regained a pulse.  Now I call for ALS crews and don't leave it up to the cops.  
This was the first cardiac arrest I had ever witnessed I thought it was 
kinda weird how someone can be talking to you one minute and gone the next.

Sara 
NREMT-Basic