picture by Jupiter
|
How we tried to save a life
|
||||||||
|
This entry is brought to you by the incompetent people at the new Shopping Centre. Contrary to popular opinion I'm not going to complain about the slow service or unprofessional behaviour. Their thought process is what I have trouble with. But... let's rewind.... Yesterday was Eve's birthday and we had planned to throw her a surprise birthday party. We were supposed to meet up at 9 in Moskva and yell “Surprise!” (or something – that part was never agreed upon) when Steven brought her there. I set out from my mum's and when passing the Shopping Centre remembered that Eve's best friend (K.) was there buying her a present so I thought “Why not meet up with her?” and went in. I saw K. pretty soon at an Unnamed Shoestore and she looked pretty serious. There was a woman sitting on a bench obviously in pain. When I arrived she had just asked an employee of the Unnamed Shoestore to call an ambulance since she wasn't feeling well. K. explained the situation to me.
The woman had asked an English-speaking man who had been with her to call the ambulance. The guy had thought she was kidding and had taken off, apparently, since he was nowhere around. The woman had sat down and asked for someone to call the ambulance. And that's when I arrived. The Employee ambled back inside and spent some time talking to two other employees. I kept an eye on them to see when they'd pick up the phone and start dialling but apparently they weren't going to do that. After some deliberation the Employee came out of the store again, her step even slower if that was possible, asked again if the woman was sure she wanted an ambulance and went to the security guard who had been standing 10 metres off the whole time. At that point K. called the ambulance herself (she'd started to do that before but the Employee had interrupted her by promising to call) and the second part of the “fun” started. Part 2 – The Ambulance Lady
The call began ordinarily enough by stating our location (The Shopping Centre) and the problem (a woman who's heart was beating irregularly and skipping beats). There was also some talk of previous similar problems etc etc etc. And then the fun started: Finally we took off since someone else offered to look after the woman until the ambulance arrived. We saw the ambulance pass us 10 minutes after we left and can only hope that it was heading there. From now on I'll never doubt the stories where TALs make wrong decisions about whether to send out an ambulance and end up costing someone's life. They're more than capable of doing that!
|
|