I had made an appointment with 2 former medical classmates to go for a morning walk along the park connector. We were to meet at Dawson Place at 8am. For some strange reason, I, who am usually early, totally lost track of time. At 8.10am, while still dilly dallying, my friend called to ask whether I was on my way. I was horrified that I was late. That was just so not me!
Medical intervention
A few minutes after we started our walk, I watched an elderly gentleman about 5m ahead of me, just suddenly collapse to the ground. We quickly approached him. Being medically trained, I checked his pulse and breathing. Steady, strong pulse, normal breathing. OK, he just lost consciousness.
Some other walkers also stopped. A group of 3 ladies called the ambulance. The difficulty was in giving the location along the park connector. Another well meaning passerby wanted to do CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation). I assured him it wasn’t necessary, the gentleman’s heart was fine.
After a few minutes, the gentleman revived. He was, as expected, rather confused as to why he was lying on the ground with a large swelling on the back of his head. He wanted to just get up and go on his way. We persuaded him to wait for the ambulance, which soon arrived. He was assessed by the ambulance staff and persuaded by them that he needed to go to hospital for an assessment.
Now I understood why I was late
At that point I suddenly realized why I was late for my appointment. It was by divine intervention that we were present at the moment that the gentleman fainted and fell, and our calm intervention prevented a well meaning CPR which could have fractured his ribs. We subsequently found out that he was in his eighties.
After our walk, we rewarded ourselves with a good brunch at Tiong Bahru hawker Centre. We then took a taxi back to our cars at Dawson Place
God uses us in unexpected ways.
lingsinglin
Dr Ling Sing Lin is a medical doctor by training. She worked in MOH HQ for many years, in policy making and administrative positions, until her retirement.
