INVC NEWS
Ahmedabad,
Mr. Jagdeesh recently turned hero when during a personal visit, he found Mr. Bhupendrabhai Patel suffering a heart attack before his eyes. Present at the right time and armed with hospital training, the 23-year-old general duty assistant at Columbia Asia Hospital, recognized the symptoms of heart attack correctly, about which the patient’s family had no idea whatsoever. Showing great presence of mind, Jagdeesh went out of his way by taking the patient to the hospital in the Golden Hour. Despite the patient turning unconscious and pulseless, Jagdeesh started cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) which he continued with for 20 minutes till they reached hospital. This played a vital role in saving the life of the patient has it helped the patient to revive. Upon reaching the hospital, the code blue team swung in to action as the patient reached hospital to find that the patient had revived. Mr. Patel was shifted to ICU and ventilated instantly. By the second day, the patient was fully conscious and was put on ventilator support.
The commitment and excellent support extended by the Columbia Asia Hospital employee outside his occupation is highly praiseworthy. Such aware and alert people are warranted in the society who can timely act and prevent tragedies from happening. The knowledge of recognizing heart attack symptoms and the correct way to administer basic life support such as CPR proved to be life-saving in this case. Despite thousands of cardiac patient in the country people are not aware of symptoms of cardiac arrest or heart attack.
How to identify heart attack?
A patient suffering from heart attack will suffer from persistent pain for 15 to 20 minutes around the chest that refuses to go away. Other symptoms include profuse sweating for no reason, discomfort, feeling of heavy pressure or heavy weight being kept on the chest, squeezing or wringing sensation, pain that extends to the neck, jaw, back, abdomen, arms, and shoulder, nausea, breathlessness, and numbness in arms.
Act fast with first aid
The following first aid measures should be taken for a patient suffering a heart attack:
1. Have the person sit down, rest, and try to keep calm.
2. Loosen any tight clothing the patient is wearing.
3. Ask if the person takes any chest pain medication for a known heart condition, such as nitroglycerin, and help them take it before calling for an ambulance.
4. If the pain does not go away promptly with rest or with 3 doses of nitroglycerine administered 5 minutes apart, or if the person is unconscious and unresponsive, call for emergency medical help or the ambulance.
5. Administer CPR only if you are trained in the technique.
Things to avoid
The following should be avoided at all cost.
1. Don’t leave the person alone except to call for help, if necessary
2. Don’t allow the person to deny the symptoms and convince you not to call for emergency help
3. Don’t wait for the symptoms to go away
