A car accident , and an elderly man who gets out of the car and perhaps from fear collapses to the ground in cardiac arrest . Moments of terror, then the intervention of a midwife from San Francesco in Nuoro who does not lose heart and performs, for a long time, the cardiac message . The man starts breathing again , revives, then the arrival of the emergency services and the transfer to Brotzu with the emergency helicopter where the doctors take care of him and will then declare him out of danger. With a clarification to the relatives: the man suffers from aortic stenosis , and the fact that he was resuscitated with only cardiac massage without the aid of a defibrillator is an episode that rarely happens . A miracle then? Maybe.
This is what happened on the afternoon of Saturday 3 August in Barumini . The protagonist of the immediate rescue was a midwife from San Francesco in Nuoro , originally from Oliena , who agreed to be reached by telephone by UnioneSarda.it but, for discretion, preferred not to appear with her name and surname .
"I don't want publicity - she clarifies - but I'm happy to get the message across about the importance of promptness in these cases in rescue operations and the great teamwork that was done . Because I intervened immediately, but then the ambulance workers, the 118 doctor, the helicopter rescue, and then the carabinieri and the police forces on site did their job admirably. Everyone committed to ensuring that the situation was resolved in the best possible way".
"I was returning from a funeral - the midwife specifies - four hours of travel to get back to Oliena, and with my husband and other family members we decided to stop at a bar in Barumini for a coffee. It was around 7:30 pm and we were inside the bar when we heard a tremendous bang, two cars that collided . On board one car an eighty-year-old man , driving, with his wife, daughter and granddaughter, on board the other car a couple with two children aged 10 and 2 years old".
"We rushed outside the bar," the woman continues in her story, "and apparently everyone seemed fine . Even the elderly man, who actually asked if we could take care of his wife, who was perhaps scared. Then, however, he suddenly collapsed to the ground ; it seemed like he was feeling unwell, perhaps from fear and the heat, but when I got closer I immediately recognized the signs of cardiac arrest . And while the others were alerting the emergency services I understood there was no time to waste and I started to perform cardiac massage ."
"I don't know how long I went on - she adds - certainly several minutes and until he started breathing again. When the ambulance arrived with the rescuers and the 118 doctor, it wasn't even necessary to use the defibrillator . The man, however, was transported to Brotzu by helicopter for checks and subsequent treatment as needed".
From the man's family , with whom the midwife has remained in contact, the deep gratitude for the care provided. And for the woman the pride in having contributed to saving a life: "It was a sad day because of the funeral, I was far from home, the coincidence of having stopped right in that bar and at that moment. I said to myself it must have been the heavens that sent us, I can't explain it, but I'm very proud of what we did".
(Unioneonline/vl)