A nurse’s work is never done, even when she’s on vacation. On August 6, a man stopped for breakfast at a local restuarant when he suddenly collapsed due to a heart attack.
A mother and daughter who work as nurses stopped to help the man while they were headed out of town. Claire, 39, and her mom Jenny, 58, performed CPR and used an automated external defibrillator on the man until an ambulance arrived.
“I’m so proud of my mum and sister,” said Jenny’s daughter Louise Hey, 31. “If they hadn’t been there, I don’t know where that man would be today.”
Acting quickly with defibrillators and doing chest compressions early on can significantly impact the outcome of a person’s condition and can be the difference between life and death.
Louise continued: “It was definitely right place, right time kind of thing. Everything that my mum and sister did was effective, and it helped that a defibrillator was there.
“I was so proud of them when I heard what they did, they work so hard throughout the year and hardly get recognition for it.
“Working in any hospital is hard with how overstretched they are, but especially with how bad it’s been in Blackburn.”
When paramedics arrived, Claire and Jenny helped cannulate him and stabilized the man to be taken to Stoke Hospital.
This man had a heart attack because his left anterior descending artery was blocked, but he is now on the road to recovery and gave his hand to the “Nurse Heroes who saved his life”.
Louise said: “I know that the pressure is really immense for them both working as nurses, so it means the world to me and all my family that they’re being recognized.
“They both worked through the whole pandemic, and both worked for the NHS for a long time so they’re really valued members of the team.
“It just proves how vital nurses are to us and we’re all really proud of them.”
