I was working in Respiratory Therapy at the time and over the intercom I heard, “Respiratory Therapy, ER Stat!” When a stat page went out, you ran and that I did.
Whenever we got paged to the Emergency room Stat, the adrenaline would rise immediately. You never knew what you were going to be facing once you arrived. Many times the patient or patients were already on gurneys in the ER, but not on this particular day.
It was quiet in the Emergency Room when I arrived but it wasn’t going to stay that way. I asked what was going on and the nurse told me we needed to set up our cold water drowning equipment for two 6 year old males who were still in the water. At that time, we were the only Hospital in North Eastern Ohio who had the ability to treat cold water drowning patients.
I was told it would be a while before the patients were out of the water and in transport, so I returned to the floor I was working on to continue giving breathing treatments. It wasn’t long after my return to the floor that I received a Stat page myself.
I will never forget the words spoken after I…
