"Get the IED! Get the IED!"

Recently, my wife Dr Diana Lin and I were awarded a nice recognition by SCDF for being a Community First Responder Award for rendering assistance to an elderly man who had a cardiac arrest. Though the incident was some time ago, I still remember the day very vividly.

We were walking around JEM to buy a “1 month celebration cake” for our twin boys who were recently born in April. We stopped by Ritz Apple Strudel and purchased a strudel to bring home to share with our families.

Suddenly, we heard somebody shouted for help and we realised that someone had collapsed. It was an elderly male security guard, probably in his late 50s. He had collapsed onto the floor and was bleeding from the mouth.

My wife and I rushed to the fallen victim and checked on him. Having only recently did a c-section a month ago to deliver our twin boys, she was still hurting and should not strain herself.?She gingerly knelt down and quickly discovered that there was no pulse.

She adjusted his chin and airway and immediately instructed me to start doing chest compressions on the man. As I started to do CPR, I could hear the ribs cracking and wasn’t sure if I should continue. I asked out loud, “I think I’m cracking his ribs! Should I continue?!?”.

My wife replied firmly with authority “Continue CPR! Better to break his ribs and survive, than to have the patient pass away”.

We continued to do this for about 5-10mins while my wife kept his airway open. A crowd started to gather around us, and many were on their phones making calls for help, (and some were taking photos and videos). Other people (including the uniformed nurses from the nearby Ng Teng Fong Hospital) offered to take over and help with the CPR.

I started shouting “Get the IED! Get the IED!”… Having just completed NS reservist, I had intended to shout for others to look for an AED (Automatic External Defibrillator), but instead, I had mistakenly said “IED” - which in military speak stood for “Improvised Explosive Device”. It's a common term that we often discuss in our military exercises. Fortunately, the bystanders understood what I meant and soon enough, a kind stranger brought an AED to us.

After 3 automated shocks from the AED, the pulse steadied, and no more shocks was given. By this time, a whole team of NTF doctors and nurses arrived with a trolley and stretcher etc and whisked him away to safety, apparently to NTF Hospital and finally to the NUH cardio department.?

After the victim was evacuated, my wife and I went to the restroom to wash the blood from our hands. I am not a professional healthcare worker, and though I have been trained to do CPR, the incident had caused adrenalin to surge through my body and my hands were trembling from the nerve wrecking experience.

I checked on my wife and asked her if she was okay, and to my surprise (or maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised), she just calmly replied: “Oh, I’m fine… (paused for a few seconds and said) … I can’t wait to finish maternity leave and get back to work!”

I immediately had a deeper sense of respect for all our dedicated healthcare workers, and their commitment everyday to save lives. Though my wife has worked at NUH Children’s Emergency for over 2 decades, we don’t see and experience the pressure and demands that their work requires. She is truly an amazing doctor!

We reached out to NUH subsequently and were very pleased to know that the patient survived the cardiac arrest and recovered. Due to patient confidentiality, we do not know the identity details of the survivor, but we’re glad that he survived and recovered well.

As we start the new year in 2025, may we all be grateful for the good health and the safe environment that we have in Singapore, and appreciate the unsung heroes in our healthcare system that look after us.

If you haven’t done so, do spend one weekend to learn how to do CPR, and learn how to use an AED. It might just save someone’s life. Thank you SCDF for the recognition, and salute to our healthcare heroes for doing this everyday!

Happy New Year 2025!