Sometimes things happen to change your day

Today, I had just left a meeting and was crossing the road in Kew when I heard a loud thud. I looked around and everything seemed to be where it should be but when I turned the corner, it wasn't.

You see, there was an elderly man lying on the footpath with a significant amount of blood coming from his head. He sat up and immediately put his top onto his bleeding forehead. Another lady turned the corner and we both stopped to help. I called 000 who advised that they probably would not send an ambulance but a care person who could assess the situation. The patient was not to eat or drink (and definitely not to have a cigarette that he was asking for) and the ambulance service would call me back to let me know what was going to happen.

Another passerby stopped to help and got to talking to the man who was alert, but still on the ground, talking. I was really impressed with how he got down to the level of the patient and just chatted with him - asking him about himself and getting the information that we needed to be able to contact someone at the care home the patient resided at. We then got in touch with the carers to let them know what was happening.

After about 30 minutes, a paramedic arrived - riding a motorcycle ambulance. I did not know that this was a thing! He began to assess the patient and said that an ambulance would be coming soon - as long as it did not get diverted. Shortly after, the ambulance did arrive and the paramedics thanked us - several times - for helping. It was almost as if people don't help out in cases like this. They then advised us that they would look after the patient and we could go on our way.

I like to look for learning opportunities wherever I go and I found that there were quite a few during this hour of my day. An hour that was not planned.

1. I need to refresh my first aid skills
2. Leadership can be found everywhere - the way the gentleman who came to help spoke to the patient was amazing.
3. The care and patience of our paramedics
4. The fact that the ambulance service is so resourceful - the motorcycle ambulance can cut through traffic in Kew junction! That's really thinking outside the box.

Look for the learning opportunities throughout your day - they are there.