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Right Time, Right Place
Martin Viegas, RN, BSN CCRN CPEN; Gretchen Stetson BSN, RN BC; Dr. Patrick Malloy, Executive Chief of Staff; and Britta Jennings RN MA, Resource Manager, Acting Chief, Patient Services, Education
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Marty Viegas, RN, BSN CCRN CPEN and Gretchen Stetson BSN, RN BC, were having coffee in the cafeteria at VA’s Brooklyn Campus when they heard a cry for help. They rushed over to the person who had called out for his fellow Veteran and found a man slumped over in a booth. “He was unresponsive. He was not breathing and had no pulse. We pulled him to the floor and started CPR,” said Ms. Stetson.
They called for an Automated External Defibrillator (AED). “We shocked him two times and after the second time, he responded,” said Mr. Viegas. The patient was then taken to the Emergency Department and later transferred by ambulance to VA’s Manhattan Campus, where cardiac surgery was performed.
After a week of recovery, Army Veteran James Hoffman talked about his experience. He said he was feeling fine when he came to the Brooklyn Campus for a podiatry appointment. “I was having breakfast and then the next thing I knew, I woke up in the Emergency Room,” the Queens resident said. “Tell the nurses thank you. If it weren’t for them I wouldn’t be here. And, everybody after helped out a lot too.” Hoffman was scheduled to have a defibrillator implanted in his chest later in the day.
Mr. Viegas and Ms. Stetson were at the hospital as part of a two week-long in-service training for all VA NY Harbor Healthcare System clinical staff on the proper insertion and techniques for BD Nexiva Close IV Catheters.
Britta Jennings RN MA, Resource Manager, Acting Chief, Patient Services, Education, was very impressed with the nurses’ response to a patient in crisis and congratulated them on their action.
Jennings presented the two nurses with Certificates of Appreciation. Dr. Patrick Malloy, Executive Chief of Staff who was also on hand to honor the nurses, said, “All clinical staff at the hospital are required to complete BLS training and the way you performed embodies the quick thinking and use of skills that is the reason for the requirement.”
