A bus driver from Edmonton Transit Service stopped his bus and saw a freezing man collapse in frigid temperatures. The man did not look healthy.
Care for the freezing man
A transit bus driver named Bailey was driving Route 151 from Castle Downs to King Edward Park and pulled up at a bus stop around 9 in the morning. He saw a man drooping on the bench between two shopping bags. It was very cold that day and the temperature was about 30 C or -32 C. the man looked like his more than half frozen. Bailey in his 30’s was formerly an emergency medical responder. He approached the freezing man on the bench, who was in a moderate to severe stage of hypothermia and told the man that he was going to call an ambulance. Being a former emergency medical responder, he provided initial first aid to the man by rubbing the hand of the man to increase blood circulation in the area.
According to Bailey, the man could barely properly talk because he was severely shivering. He has difficulty communicating and has difficulty in squeezing my hands to test his grip strength. At this point, Bailey was already scared; the pulse of the man was very weak on both wrist and could barely feel it. He checked the vital signs and was determined he needs immediate medical help. The man initially wanted to go to Boyle Street Community Services downtown. Bailey convinced him that he still needs help from the paramedics. The paramedics provided first aid to the man and immediately brought to the hospital for further treatment.
Bailey is grateful for his first aid training. My training becomes handy during working as a bus driver, whether helping someone who walks into the bus with an injury, someone who has fallen and people who are in medical distress such as feeling that they are having a heart attack. Every time when he is on duty as a bus driver, he always carries with him a pair of Latex gloves, just in case he needs to help people. We see plenty of incidents that happen in a city on a day-to-day basis.
The next day he was surprised reading about his experience in the news and he was also happy and relieved that the man he helped is now recovering in stable condition in the hospital.
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