Okay, she isn't on this board or anything, but I'm still not going to use her full name - she's very shaken up by the whole thing and I don't want to cause any embarrassment to her.

My friend Kathryn found herself in a situation with a collapsed man who was surrounded by people who weren't doing anything. Knowing first aid/CPR (I guess it's all the same thing, but I don't know how these things work), she began CPR on the guy, getting others to call 911, hold the guy's hand, talk to him, just getting people moving and helping until the paramedics showed up.

After what she said seemed like 1000 hours later*, she was able to let the paramedics and such take over (apparently they had the ambulance and fire trucks in attendance, a whole big show).

This was just a few days ago, and she's still very shaken up by everything, having nightmares about it and finding herself unable to go to that same bus stop.

Now, the chances of the guy making it through are very slim, apparently, but they would have been nil if she hadn't taken charge. So, she may just have saved that guy's life.

I just wanted to say two things about this - first, KATHRYN IS MADE OF AWESOME!!!. I'd like to think I'd have the sense to at least call 911 in this situation, but I can't see myself taking charge as well as she did, even if I did have the training for it.

Second, it's too bad that it seems like such a big deal that she helped - that is, there were people there for a bit before she arrived and assessed the situation, but none of them had so much has called 911 or anything. Sure, if they don't have the training, there is only so much anyone can do in that situation, but calling for help doesn't require St John's Ambulance certification.

I know, I know, I wasn't dere (Charlie), I don't know precisely what the situation looked like. I'm not even really blaming anyone, as I just don't know what was going on beyond what she said.

I'm mostly just saying I'm really proud of her











* Absolutely no slight intended toward the fire and paramedic service in question (a large Canadian city). She said the 'thousand hours' in a manner that clearly referred to personal time in a stressful situation, not that they were late or anything.

Sounds like a hero to me, Ian. You've probably already done so, but keep telling her how proud you are of her. Maybe that will help ease the stress she's going through now.

Three minutes seems like a thousand hours in that kind of situation. She did a great job. Tell her I said "YAY Kathryn!"

That is really really really great.

Excellent! Good on her. Always great to hear about people who actually stop their busy day and HELP another human being in need. I hope you strive to be there when she needs you. I can tell you are the type of friend who would be there for her.

Cheers
Smithers Jones

The world needs more Kathryns.

One time I came across a cop fighting a guy much bigger than him while a bunch of people were standing around watching. I ran over and asked the cop, "Can I help you?" Exasperated, he said, "Yes!" We pinned the guy down until an off duty cop came along and before you knew it, more cops showed up.

That is a heroine for sure.

Long live Kathryn! Hero of IMWAN!

But another point comes to mind: I'm not sure we should have shared the 911 secret technology with Canada. I can see Canadians making frivolous 911 calls.

I'll pass along your thoughts to her.

Kathryn is AWESOME.

I've been there. Only I had a CPR partner to work with while we waited for the base medics to show up.

If you get a chance, just tell her she did well, and give her a hug.

Oh, and a drink if she wants one.

Good for her!

Go Kathryn!

By strange coincidence, I too was first on scene at an accident just a couple days ago. I was on my bicycle, in the bike lane (a thin lane on the far right of the road, here in the US), when I heard a sound behind me to the left. I turned and saw a motorcycle tumbling along (riderless) one (and a half) lanes behind me to my left - passing me on the left, as it came to a halt. The rider had apparently just fallen off, for reasons unclear.

My first priority was to bring my bicycle to a halt while avoiding the tumbling motorcycle, which was not quite on a direct path for me, but given the tumbling factor, you never know. Anyway I immediately pulled over, ditched the bike, and ran back to where the rider lay on the road. I got to her and saw she was breathing and not overtly bleeding - I was about to run out and wave to ward off impending traffic, but another person drove up with a truck and performed that duty much more effectively. I then reached to call 911, but another bystander arrived to say he'd just done that.

Then two policemen showed up, maybe forty seconds after the accident. Then about six more, within the first two minutes. They seemed to have everything well in hand - the rider was in pain and couldn't move without great pain, but was breathing and not losing any blood that we could see. As I realized there was really nothing else for me to do at this point, I marveled at how quickly the police had arrived. Looking around then, I saw that we were about 50 yards (or meters) from a building labeled as "Cottonwood Heights City Offices", which had several more patrol cars parked nearby. Along with various other vehicles and people in moderately formal business attire. Turns out that the small city of Cottonwood Heights had just started its own police department, and their headquarters was right there where the accident occurred. Good luck for the cyclist, relatively. If you're going to have an accident, you can't really help for a better response time unless you crash your vehicle into the local emergency room.

After that I hopped back on my bike and went on to work. Don't know exactly what happened to the motorcyclist, but my guess is she may have had some broken bones, but probably nothing too grave.

Even allowing for the raw luck that the accident occurred so close to a police station, I'm rather impressed with the results. Three locals (myself included) arrived and were busy trying to help before the police arrived, from a whole fifty yards away. I've just recently returned to this area after 31 years, but I'm thinking this must be a pretty good place to live, with that sort of response. Go team!

Aside from that bit of back-patting, the thing I will always remember from this experience is the feeling of "oh s#!+, this is real" as I came on the scene and realized that I might be responsible for whether another person lived or died in the next few minutes. Turns out I wasn't, but for about ten seconds, I didn't know that, and it felt like a pretty damn big responsibility. How well do I remember CPR training? Not very well, at the moment. Guess I should rectify that. Anyway at the time, I was acutely aware of the potential for costly mistakes, and it scared the crap out of me. So I've got a lot of respect for someone who had to do that for three minutes, or ten, or 1000 hours, whatever. Or for that matter, for those who make a career out of it, or a volunteer side job (e.g. volunteer firemen). Kudos to all these folks! Especially the heroine du jour, Kathryn! Yay, Kathryn! Huzzah!

That's a fantastic story. If only the world had more people like her.

Hopefully the experience will convince the bystanders to take a first-aid course.

Your friend is a hero. I am proud of her. You can tell her I said that. As for the people standing around doing nothing, that is sad but happens often. People just don't want to get involved. Or they're too shocked and don't know how to react. That is sad. But your friend, Kathryn, is a good example of somebody stepping forward and acting unselfishly. Thanks for sharing her story with us all.

That's an amazing story. I like in a city of 2.5 million people. Too often you hear that somebody was hurt or assaulted and people did nothing. I'm glad to hear that you did do something. You are very brave. Great to hear the woman should be ok eventually.

She's a legend.

It's great that she was able to do that. Whatever ultimately happens, she did what she needed to do.

This makes me realize that my CPR training was a long time ago and must be very rusty now. I need to see about getting certified.

Oh yeah. That's EXACTLY the feeling I had when I had time to think.

Good job being there, Jim!

Definatley a hero!

Kathryn gets an Official Judge WAN Gold Star for THE MONTH!!! And 2 Get Out of Banning cards...