What Would You Do?

Hi all!, today’s blog is going to be a little bit different. It’s not quite mental health focused, but when I explain the story, you’ll understand how this situation can play on your mind. I wasn’t sure whether or not to write about it. But the more I think about it the more I feel this needs to be written down. I’m not going to name or shame or anything like that; but I wanted to talk about an interesting but scary experience I had last Thursday.

Last Thursday (23rd of August), my partner and I decided to travel to Bristol for the day. The main aim was to go and get my gorgeous alto saxophone fixed and look at a saxophone I may soon be getting. However, something else happened in the meantime which was the most unexpected and terrifying thing I’ve ever had to do.

We just got off the bus at Bristol bus station. All was good. Everything was as expected. We then left the station and as we turned the corner to go down this path we heard someone scream; “HELP, HELP! SOMEONE HELP! PLEASE!” All I could see was a women near this man who appeared to have passed out on the floor. My partner and I ran over. The women spoke again, “We need an ambulance!”

So firstly, for the first time ever in the 21 (almost 22) years of existence, I phoned “999.” My partner tried to help the women with the man who had collapsed. Thankfully at the same time, police officers were walking down the stretch of path, so we shouted for them to come over. In the meantime though, we discovered the man had stopped breathing. As the police officer did CPR, my partner ran off to find a defibrillator, and I was still on the phone trying to tell the paramedic lady on the phone where exactly we were in Bristol (I’ve only been to Bristol twice, my knowledge of the area isn’t that great).

5 minutes later the police officer was still giving the man CPR. Thankfully by this point, my partner had come back with the defibrillator and found a paramedic. We had also managed to give the ambulance crew the right location as to where we were, and within minutes an ambulance arrived.  After then I just stood back, with my partner trying to keep people away from the path, as instructed by the police officers. The lady who originally called for help thanked my partner and I immediately for our help, before leaving.

Thankfully, the man started to breathe again. What I overheard the paramedic say was this man had taken a dangerous substance called ‘Spice,’ and apparently it was the 4th case they’ve dealt with in less than an hour! I was shocked. How could one drug cause so much damage?

Together, the police and the paramedics carried the man onto a stretcher and took him away to the ambulance. The police officers thanks my partner and I for staying and for helping the best we could.

Suddenly it was like nothing had ever happened. The pathway was clear. My partner and I however knew different. We were shocked, and both feeling a bit emotional from the whole situation. However, we tried our best to get on with our day, the best we could.

What surprised me with this situation was probably 2 things which I’d like to address below.

1. Despite being first aid trained, at that moment, I was terrified and forgot everything I had learnt. In spite of this, I was able to remain pretty calm considering that I was in a horrible situation.
2. As my partner and I were trying to stop people going down a path. One man decided differently and wouldn’t listen. Although I tried to tell him that the police, paramedics and one of the bus station people all said no one could down it; the man complained saying, “I’m not taking any instructions from anyone, especially a bus station person!” He went passed me and I overheard him talk to the bus station man, saying and I quote, “I don’t care if he’s dying, my family are dying!”

I was shocked by his behaviour. I’ve never met anyone so inconsiderate. I was angry about how someone could possibly be like this when someone was actually losing their life.

Although this blog isn’t exactly mental health related, something like this can still have an impact on your mental health. In all honesty, since that day, I haven’t stopped thinking about what had happened. I have nightmares that I’m in the same situation again, but this time there is no one there to help me. It scares me now, and when I really think about it, I still have tears come to my eyes.

So how would you react if something like this happened? Would you try and help like my partner and I did? Would you have the same reaction as this inconsiderate man? If so, then why?

My sincere hope is that that the man has recovered and is able to carry on with his life; without needing to take the dreaded ‘Spice’ again. And I would like to conclude by saying, how amazing are our emergency services? People complain about them all the time; not doing a good job, and the most popular one recently with ambulance crew having complaints from people because they parked in front of their driveway, or in their space.  But realistically, they are the most bravest heroes! Last Thursday, I spent an hour trying to be strong enough to help save someone. These emergency services do it every single day. Day in, day out. And I can’t thank them enough for their services to us.