Unconscious. Not Breathing.

A first for me.

I was walking back from the hospital where I work, no less than half an hour ago in the pitch black, when I notice a car stopped in the road with its hazard lights on. As I got closer, I noticed the driver was slumped over to his left. There were two people standing next to the car, both looking very anxious, one on the phone and looking around for help. I shouted over;

'Is he hurt?'

'YES!'

I ran over and looked at the man. He looked to be in his early 40s, his hair was mostly black with a few little bits of grey. He was wearing a red jumper and jeans, and glasses. He was of an average build, and looked perfectly healthy.

I leaned in and tried to get a response;

'Hello can you hear me?'

Nothing.

I pinched his shoulders.

Not a sausage.

I turned my head and put my ear next to his mouth and couldn't hear him breathing. It was loud and dark, so I put my hand on his chest. I couldn't feel him breathing. His eyes were open, but he was inanimate. He felt like a doll.

An ambulance appeared down the road and was coming towards us, I flagged them down. They were on their way to another urgent call, but when I said this man was unconscious and definitely not breathing they decided to reprioritise. I have never been so grateful. I undid the man's seatbelt and helped get him out of the car and onto the floor. I let the ambulance crew initiate CPR with BVM.

I let them know I was there if they needed any help, but I knew he was in capable hands. I stood blocking the view of drivers passing by, and talked to the two he was with when I found them. It turns out that they didn't know him, they were in fact driving behind him and noticed the driver 'pass out' at the wheel and roll to a stop. The paramedic shouted out that she wanted them to just load and get going; it was a good job it was only 2 minutes from the hospital.

I shouted 'Good luck' as they loaded the cot onto the ambulance. I knew they'd need it.

I am a little annoyed with myself. I hesitated, and I shouldn't have. It should have been straight away - unconscious - not breathing - no reason to suspect spinal injury - get him on the floor and initiate CPR. I could have got in a good 30 seconds worth of CPR on him before the ambulance pulled up, but I didn't.

I have never seen an unconscious person, so it was quite a strange experience to shout to someone and pinch them in attempt to get some sort of response and fail. It was different to how I'd pictured it, I felt like I was being ignored.

I will never know what became of him. Even though I am usually optimistic, I felt he wouldn't make it. Given his age I would bet he has a family. What a start to the new year.

So that was my first time witnessing CPR, and although I realise now I should have initiated it, it was a good experience. I hope he proves me wrong and pulls through. My thoughts go out to him and his family. I've stepped across a barrier today, and next time I won't hold back.