When the wheels of destiny start to turn, nothing can alter its course ... all the bagging n CPR didnt even do a thing for the dead man in our ambulance ... He was gone right from the start ... even before we arrived on scene ....
today started out as a day no different from any other ... tt was till we recieved a phone call requesting for help ... an accident has occurred within the compounds of our camp n a personnel was seriously injured ... time to take action ! me, dan n dr tan rushed down in the ambulance while the rest stayed behind to man the medical centre n to prepare the treatment room ... i intitially expected something minor ... lacerations or brusies ... nothing too serious ... nothing we cant handle ... piece of cake ... but the scene we witnessed was not anything like wat i had in mind ... scene : a man stucked on a forklift n bleeding profusely ... giant pool of blood formed on the platform of the forklift ... blood all over the face , dripping non-stop ...a totally unconcious casualty ...
was stunned for a second or 2 ... had to take some time before it hit me ... "this guy is dying ! get him out of there !" ... took awhile for me to get moving though ... don really know how the hell we could get him out of the forklift, especially since he most probably had some form of cranial or spinal injury ... with much effort n help from the AMS ple though , we managed to put him on the stretcher n transport him to the hospital ...i took a moment to check for his breath n pulse while strapping him onto the stretcher ... put my face near his ... hmmm ... feels warm ... phew he's breathing ( or so i thought) ... felt for his pulse ... nothing ... tried again before dr tan told me he's already done so ... no pulse ... not a beat ... his heart was gone ... the warmth i felt was due to the warmth of the blood ...
up the ambulance i took the head position ... we attempted CPR after we made sure the blood n vomit was cleared from his mouth , n after the airway guerdal was inserted to keep his air way open ... i did the bagging, dr tan did the compressions n dan prepared the IV set n adreanaline solutions ... however, his airway simply could not stay clear ?! every compression made more stuff splurt out from his mouth ! the smell of vomit n blood made me rather nauseous ... to make things worse, i was sitting juz beside the head, where the stench had its max potential ... fortunately i got over it rather quickly ... dread to tink wat woiuld happen if i started vomitting too ... shudder ... we did the best we could ...inserted a plug n performed CPR all the way ...
reaching CGH, we promptly transported him into the ER .. from there we let the doctors take care of the rest ... us medics do not have the equipment nor the expertise to deal with such an injury ... the family n company of the casualty were informed in due time ... the casualty however was pronounced dead before they arrived ... we left the hospital ard an hour after we reached ... i was rather thankful tt we left before the family arrived ... don tink i would be able to bear seeing their faces of anguish n disbelief ... sigh ...
well anyway , both me n dan felt somewhat depressed over the death of the casualty... even though we could nt do much to salvage the situation when we arrived on scene ... its the first time we had to cope with a situation like this and feeling sad would be inevitable i guess ... time will heal us both though ... n his family members as well ... bless them ...
honestly, i take contentment in the fact tt i stayed rather clam throughout the whole incident ... cool ... often i imagined i would fumble quite abit but nope ...nothing of tt sort ... guess this is what it means to rise up to meet a crisis ... haha ... in a small way ... thankful dr tan was there with us ... without him, i'll panic much more easily since me n dan would juz be 2 medics with no idea on how to hande the situation ... at least there's someone experienced to lead us in the mist of chaos ... well, guess today would be a day i wont forget anytime soon ...
a whiff of harsh reality, a lesson to learn , an invaluable experience ...