God’s Waiting Room – with people who CARE

Today I went to a residential home (i.e. God’s Waiting Room) to a 90-odd year old patient with “Difficulty in Breathing”. I’d been there before, for different patients, which is hardly surprising.

Arriving just before the crew (and it’s easier to park a car than an ambulance there) I went to the patient. I thought she was cyanosed and my pulseox confirmed that she was short of breath – blood oxygen level between 73-82%. (For the uninitiated, it should be 95%+ for healthy people.) Poor perfusion was probably the cause of the variation.

Putting the patient on full-flow oxygen very quickly, her levels soon reached the low, then mid 90s%. The crew then arrived and did a 3-lead then a 12-lead ECG. Whilst her pulse was regular and at a good rate, the 12-lead showed evidence of an MI. The crew canulated the patient and did a few obs, then took her to the ambulance for a blue light trip to hospital. I’d followed them down the stairs with their Lifepack and the patient’s meds (all one of it), so had to go back for my kit. The patient’s daughter had arrived before I had and she went with the truck.

Going back for my kit, one of the care assistants asked me about the patient’s chances. The patient was nearly 100 after all, so it was a reasonable ask. The staff either thought a lot of our patient or they were damn good actors. I reckon the former.

I thought I owed the staff a few minutes, considering their concern. For the first time ever, I was glad I wasn’t a paramedic. The paramedic possibly could have told them, but wouldn’t have. In my case, I genuinely couldn’t tell them. Sure, the patient was getting close to the ton. However, she was basically well and bearing up as well as could be expected, even for a younger person. Her obs, when on O2, were probably better than mine.

I spent about 15 minutes chatting to the staff. Whilst the patient’s daughter was the person most involved, the staff had an attatchment to the patient. It amused me when they reacted to the fact that I was an unpaid volunteer. (The standard reactions are either “You must be mad!” [True] or “You deserve a medal” [Less true, but some CFR somewhere should deserve an MBE at least.] In this case, I’m pleased that the reaction was the latter.)

Whilst the carers are paid to do what they do, most do actually care about the people they look after. A few minutes of my time (and I was technically off-call when the call came through) is the least we can offer.

One thing that did surprise me was that none of the staff at the home had a first aid qualification. They initially lacked the confidence to call an ambulance. A couple of them said that they would like to learn first aid. Whilst the course is three days and costs £200+, surely there should be someone on duty all the time with a First Aid at Work certificate, or at least the one-day Emergency First Aid at Work ticket.