I wanted to take a moment to submit a nomination for one of your nurses, Karen Koelzer, who went above and beyond outside of the hospital setting to save a man's life. She and another nurse worked together to resuscitate a gentleman at the airport.
Karen and her family had just flown in from vacationing in Florida to Detroit and went to baggage claim to get her suitcase, which wasn't there. She went to the office to find out what was going on. It was in the back and her bag was returned to her. As she turned to get back to her family, she saw a man fall to the ground by a coffee stand. She quickly walked over and found that he was unresponsive. Several people were surrounding him, including his very distraught daughter. Karen believed the others were employees but didn't know if there were any medical personnel in the group. She heard someone say "seizure" and saw blood seeping from under the man's head. The most noticeable thing to her was his breathing. Everything in her nursing head said Agonal Respirations.
Karen asked if someone was getting an AED, and a man said, "But he's breathing." She told him it didn't matter, and they still needed an AED. Karen checked his pulse and felt nothing. Then she saw a woman nearby putting medical gloves on and thought she must be a paramedic. She asked the woman if she thought his respirations were agonal and she agreed. Karen started CPR and then the other woman took over compressions. The AED arrived and they got the electrodes attached. The man who brought the AED hit the analyze button but was clearly unsure what to do when the machine said, "Shock Advised." The woman doing CPR said, "Everyone clear!" They told the man to hit the red button and the patient was defibrillated.
The paramedics then arrived and took the gentleman to a local hospital for treatment. The woman that came to help was also a nurse named MC, who works at another hospital. Both nurses agreed that bystander CPR is completely different from having doctors, nurses with equipment, and medications in a hospital setting. Had Karen's suitcase been in baggage claim, she probably wouldn't have been nearby to help save this man's life along with MC. I know Karen to be a very humble and devoted nurse who truly cares about her patients. Not all DAISY Awards are earned inside the hospital setting, and it was truly meant to be that Karen and MC were in the right place at the right time! They truly are extraordinary!