Morning “Excitement” and Vultures

I got up early this morning to catch the first flight out of Logan. (Even for a morning person, it is hard to set my alarm for 2:30am.)

As I was waiting in line at Starbucks, the person behind me fainted while he was on the phone. I must admit it was a little scary. He was awake but twitching and hardly responsive. After a minute or two, he sat up and seemed okay so we helped him stand. (Probably a mistake in retrospect.) He immediately collapsed again hitting his head for the second time. We were able to brace his fall somewhat, but he seemed to be having some type of seizure. His tongue swelled up and was stuck between his teeth (making me realize that I have no idea what the right protocol is here). He then started to vomit.

At this point, I am holding this guy’s head and hoping that some emergency help comes before I see somebody die in my hands. It seemed like it took forever, but someone came. No one really seemed interested in what I saw instead relying on the individual to answer questions (which was only possible since one of the Starbucks employees spoke Spanish and English). The man only spoke Spanish and was traveling alone to go back home. To the best that I could figure out, he was a 61 year old male on several medications which he kept all together in a pill bottle so they weren’t sure of his condition. They were keeping him overnight in a hospital here.

It made me think of a lot of questions which I am sure are going through his head:

• How do I contact my family? (I think the Starbuck’s employee called them.)
• How do I pay for this care? I don’t have health insurance in the US.
• What happened to me? I can’t imagine that he knew.
• How am I going to get home? Will I get a new ticket or have to pay for it?

A few lessons for all of us on having emergency contact information and lists of allergies, conditions, medications, etc. with us. (or a case for some type of personal health record accessible by medical professionals)

The most amazing part to me was people’s focus on getting their Starbucks. The area is roped off with a man on the floor, vomit on the floor, a policeman, airport personnel, and two EMR people. Regardless, people were trying to go around them to get to the register to order. When they started to wheel the man out on a stretcher, I saw one man go in and actually step over the EMR people who were sitting on the ground where the man had been 30 seconds earlier.

They definitely needed a big neon sign that said to go someplace else for your caffeine. (There is a Dunkin Donuts less than 100 yards away.)