Tonight was very eventful, I took my girlfriend to see the new Will Smith film Hancock at the Odeon Cinema in Harrogate. As we were getting in the car after the film had finished, I witnessed an elderly lady stumble forward and crack her head on the pavement, knocking her clean out. I ran to help… but I had no idea what to do, I wasn’t trained in First Aid… What should I do?
Lets track back abit and lead up to this atrocious event.
The Film Hancock is basically about this guy with amazing superpowers. He has all the usual superhero strengths, he can fly, run through walls, throw cars, stop trains, repel bullets blardy blah, but he chooses to rebel against society and turns the public against him. To cut this synopsis short, he turns his life around and ends the film a hero – a satisfying end for any regular film goer like myself.
I left the cinema feeling ‘super’, you know the feeling you get as a kid when you saw a superhero film and immediately after you start to mimic their every move, well this is a bit how I felt, only I’m supposed to be grown up so I had to restrain myself slightly.
As we walked out of the entrance, we passed an elderly lady leaning against the wall with her walking stick by her side, waiting for a taxi. Thinking nothing of it we passed by and walked the 30 yards to the car. I walked around the car and was about to open the door when I looked up to immediately see this lady stumble 3 or 4 paces forward, hands fixed to her side, falling uncontrollably and unavoidably cracking her head on the pavement.
“Holy crap” I said, as Zoe turned to see what all the fuss was about. I let go of the car handle and made haste and ran back to her to give assistance.
Unfortunately this lady was out cold, knocked unconscious from the fall and looking in bad shape, not helped by her frail elderly frame. I was first there to help so I took the lead, problem being I had no First Aid training and nobody else around me had either. So what do I do, and more importantly what shouldn’t I do.
I was informed by an onlooker that an ambulance had been called and would arrive shortly, this was a relief, leaving me to focus on the old lady.
The years of watching TV hospital dramas were to be finally put to some use, I immediately checked her vitals:
- Pulse Rate
- Breathing Rate
- Temperature
Luckily her head was to the side and she was breathing clearly with no sign of any fluid or objects obstructing her airway, and her pulse was also steady and strong which was a relief.
I felt the patient was in a ‘Stable’ condition, her position was a little awkward but her vitals were good, so I decided to leave her in this position as to not make the situation worse and put a blanket over her to keep her warm, ironically given to me by the taxi driver who came to pick her up!
Now to finish off and make this lady as comfortable as possible until the ambulance arrived, I took my jacket off and delicately placed it under her head.
To fast forward: Lady regained consciousness, ambulance arrived, Paramedics did ‘their thing’ and the situation was dealt with. Only what was left behind was a big pile of blood from the head wound all over my jacket!!!
It may be ruined, the dry cleaners may be able to rescue it, but to be honest, with light to the situation I don’t care, the Elderly lady seemed to making a speedily recovery and that’s all that matters.
So one Will Smith Film, a bloody accident and a ruined jacket later and I’m going to hit the sack, fingers crossed for Ms Mitchell and her sore head.
