First aid

On Thursday afternoon, just after 2pm, two people came into my office. "Come quickly", they said. "We need first aid". As I did a three week first aid course in the army (25 years ago!) with occasional refresher courses, I seem to be the first call for any first aid needed in the factory. We walked briskly to the factory floor where I was shown a man, who for all intents and purposes seemed to be asleep.

I checked his pulse (which was maybe a bit high) and breathing (fairly obvious as he was making snoring noises), and that's about the limit that my first aid training could handle, except for the next part: call an ambulance!

After ten minutes, in which no ambulance appeared, someone called the clinic on the kibbutz, and after a few minutes our doctor (who was fortunately at the clinic) and two nurses appeared. First they administered oxygen and then the doctor began to check the patient: stethoscope, reflexes, etc. It was then that the diagnosis became apparent: a cerebral incident, or stroke.

After another ten minutes (which seemed like eternity), the ambulance arrived, and its crew took over from our clinic staff. Apart from inserting a cannula into the patient's arm and administering a dose of valium, they only measured his vital signs, and basically concurred with our doctor's diagnosis. A few people helped us transfer the patient to a gurney, and then he was into the ambulance and off to hospital.

I was informed on Friday morning that he had died during the night.

Everybody did what they could, but I get the feeling that there wasn't very much which could have been done. I was on the scene within a few minutes, and although I didn't realise it at the time (it's not often that I see someone in this condition), he was probably already gone and nothing could reverse what had already happened.