E
lsie had just slumped to the floor. She was in a closed door meeting with Janet, the nurse supervisor of Goodwill Home Health Care owned by Elsie.
"Elsie, are you alright?" Janet yelled. She jumped to her feet, rushed over and shook Elsie. "Are you alright?" she repeated. Elsie didn't respond.
"Oh my God. Please help me," Janet screamed louder. Frightened and nervous, Janet thought nobody heard her. She rushed into the adjoining office. "Call the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) now," she yelled to Kester.
"What's going on Janet?" the bespectacled Kester inquired. His focus now shifted from the desktop computer to Janet.
"Elsie slumped to the floor," Janet reported and turned back immediately to assist Elsie.
"You must be kidding," Kester responded with surprise. He jumped to his feet behind Janet and dashed into Elsie's office. "You must be joking. It's a lie," he said interchangeably as he went.
Janet knew that time was of the essence now to save Elsie. Rather than wait for Kester, she grabbed the phone and activated the emergency code for help.
Kester made it straight to Elsie on the floor and knelt beside her. With head tilted to one side, Kester lowered his right ear above Elsie's nose. He listened to her breathing quickly and swept his eyes over her chest to check for the same. He also placed two middle fingers on Elsie's neck to feel for a pulse at the carotid artery. There wasn't either of them. He started a cardiopulmonary resuscitation, CPR, process. "One, two, three, four, five," he counted out loud in that sequence, up to thirty, compressing her chest hard and fast up to two inches in depth.
Ivory, the patient care coordinator, joined them in Elsie's office. "Janet," she called out of confusion. Janet couldn't answer. Janet was on the phone with a 911 operator.
"Oh never mind," Ivory said, turning to Kester. "Oh my Gosh," she screamed with her palm covering her mouth. "Is she alive?" she asked curiously.
Kester ignored the distraction. He concentrated totally on the CPR. With a measured rhythm, he continued to yell out the number of compressions he'd performed.
Ivory was a certified first responder trained by an American Heart Organization. She knew her role in an emergency, especially during two person's CPR process. She grabbed the oxygen bag and a mask hanging by Elsie's door. Ivory knelt over Elsie's head. The mask was firmly positioned air-tightly over Elsie's nose and mouth with Ivory's left hand. Two sets of breaths were administered to Elsie after each set of thirty compressions by Kester. As Ivory squeezed the oxygen bag, she meticulously watched to see Elsie's chest rise.
Janet hung up the phone. "The paramedics are on the way," she said quietly. She joined the duo on the floor and very ready to relieve Kester, now in the middle of the fourth cycle of the CPR. The three worked so hard on the CPR, switched roles as necessary as they waited for the ambulance to arrive.
An ambulance pulled up within twelve minutes. A police car followed suit after a couple of minutes. Two paramedics walked into the office with a stretcher and first aid kits. A cop followed behind them.
"Guys we'll take it from here," said Randy, one of the paramedical staff. He and Rachel, his colleague, lay the stretcher down at one corner of the spacious office. Rachel took over chest compression from Janet, who also had just relieved Kester. Randy powered the AED, placed two adult pads on Elsie. The AED ordered a shock to be delivered after an analysis.
