Alisha Bowling, RN, was one of several people who helped once she spotted other caregivers gathered around the man.
It’s not particularly alarming to see a man laying in the grass on a summer day so most people just passed the man by. But Brad Rich’s gut intervened, and he went to check on the man.
Brad, who’s the EVS manager at Intermountain Medical Center, says he was driving to Costco, which is across the street from the hospital, when he saw a man on his back on a small patch of grass near the Emergency Department and the physician parking garage. Brad initially thought the man was just relaxing and enjoying the sun and assumed if he’d collapsed someone would’ve noticed because he was near a busy intersection. In fact, he was even concerned that if the man was just enjoying a summer nap, he might just succeed in waking him up.
“But then my gut told me I needed to go check up on him,” Brad says. “So, I turned my car around and pulled up next to him and rolled my window down and asked if he was okay. And there was no response. I put on my flasher lights because I was parked in the road, jumped out, and went over to him. I tried to talk to him to get his attention. I realized he was completely unresponsive.”
As Brad was on his phone calling for help, he attracted the attention of another caregiver who was passing by. The caregiver pulled over and jumped out of his car and came running to help. He clearly had medical training and checked the man’s pulse to assess his condition, Brad says.
Zach Smith, continuous improvement manager, was also passing by at that time.
“I saw Brad was standing next to a man on the grass and I decided that didn’t look normal,” Zach says. “I ran up to Brad and asked if the man was responsive. At that time, he wasn’t.”
Zach ran to the ED and told a nurse about the unresponsive man. The nurse called for help and “a bunch of caregivers ran out, stretcher in tow,” Zach says. “By the time I got back out there, there was a whole host of folks helping the man.”
Alisha Bowling, RN, Maternity Unit nurse manager, was driving by and also stopped to help.
“They were shaking him a little bit and doing a little sternal rub to see if he would respond,” Alisha says.
After they were working with him for a few minutes the man started to respond a little, Brad says
“We asked him what his name was and it took him a while to be able to talk,” Brad says. “He was completely out of it. And then he said, ‘I need to go to the hospital’ and I said, ‘We’re taking you there right now.’”
“I was concerned for that person and I was very happy I was able to get him whatever help he needed faster,” Brad says. “It just felt good that I listened to my gut and checked rather than assuming everything was okay.”
“As I’ve thought back on what happened that day, I was reminded that at Intermountain we’re all caregivers,” Zach says. “There are administrative caregivers, there are facilities caregivers, there are clinical caregivers. We’re all caregivers. I truly believe that everyone at Intermountain is looking out for the best interests of our patients and really trying to help people live the healthiest lives possible. We all want to ensure the care delivered is the best it can be, and ensure we’re serving our communities. I was really impressed with Brad for trusting his gut and turning around to check on that man.”