By Micaela Deary recently tied the knot surrounded by several of her fellow nurses from the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Emergency Department.
But they did more than watch their friend get married. They found themselves saving the life of one of the other guests.
At some point, someone in attendance suddenly collapsed and needed to be given CPR.
“I quickly ran over to see what was going on, if they needed help,” said Amanda Berger, MSN, RN. “And I very quickly realized that this person was in a bad way.”
Berger said the man’s skin tone was ‘bluish-purple’ and his breathing was abnormal.
“I just instinctively went into ER nurse mode and got on the ground and started to feel for a pulse,” Berger said.
The other nurses at the reception pitched in to help. One timed the compressions. One called 9-1-1. Another helped secure the Automated External Defibrillator (AED).
“It was like the room disappeared and we were in the ER, doing our thing,” O’Brien said. “We were all there to support each other and we all knew that we had each other’s back.”
“Everybody played a role,” Berger said. “And we just came together as a code team at our colleagues’ wedding.”
The nurses worked on the man for about 20 minutes, getting help from the bartender, who brought over the AED.
Paramedics eventually arrived and rushed the man to a local hospital. The man survived.
