by Chakira Ward

Created on: April 16, 2009

Being a Ms. Social Butterfly has lead me to the medical field as a patient services representative. I am definitely a people person, and knowing that I would play a small role in making sure patients were taken care of properly made me very happy to go to work every day. When working in a hospital, emergency room, or urgent care you must be prepared for anything. I never expected the worst in a doctors office, but I quickly learned that wherever there's a patient, anything can happen.

A male patient in his early 50's called in to schedule an appointment, his complaint was fatigue and flu-like symptoms and he was debating whether he should come in or not. These were not symptoms that we would consider urgent but we gave him a same day appointment anyway.

On my way in from lunch, I happened to share the elevator with that patient, he had come in with his wife. We were headed to the 3rd floor but before we could make it to the 2nd, he was clenching his chest and saying that he didn't feel so good. For some reason, the elevator seemed like it was going extra slow that day, before I knew it, he was on the floor passed out. His wife and I let out a loud scream in unison.

Once we arrived to our floor and the door opened, the janitor happened to be standing there, he was able to lock the elevator on our floor so the door would stay open. I ran as fast as I could to find the nearest doctor, yelling for help at the same time. The patients wife stayed at his side and waited crying, desperate for help. I was able to get a doctor there in no more than 30 seconds, you wouldn't believe how many people just walked by staring but did not offer any type of help.

Somehow, word got around quickly because doctors and nurses were swarming the elevator, it was such a relief to have them there. The entire incident happened in no more than 2 minutes but it felt so much longer. The patients wife and I were very confused about what was going on, we soon realized that he didn't just faint when they began CPR. He had no pulse, they tried to resuscitate for about an hour while I stayed to comfort his wife and call his children. Unfortunately, he did not survive the incident and was reported dead at the scene.

I was so shocked by what had gone on, it just kept replaying in my mind. My supervisor thought it would be best for me to go home and take a few days off to regroup. That is one day that I will never forget, I felt every ounce of pain from his wife and children. Thinking of it makes me sad, but knowing that he is smiling down on them from heaven makes it all better.

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